by Glenn Hasek
January 04, 2011 08:30
The investigation is not final but it looks like carbon monoxide has killed five more hotel guests--five teens staying at the Hotel Presidente near the Miami International Airport on December 26. Their second floor guestroom was connected to the garage via an interior stairway where they left their car running. They went to the hotel to celebrate the birthday of one of the teens and left the car running because they previously had problems keeping the battery charged. A 2007 Florida law requires that carbon monoxide detectors be installed in hotel and motel boiler rooms but not in garages or guestrooms. Too bad for the Florida teens. They possibly could have survived the holidays.
In late 2006, a 26-year-old man died in a Florida hotel guestroom that was adjacent to a boiler room that had a carbon monoxide leak. That death led to the Florida law. I wrote about this incident in a previous column. In 2005, three women also died from carbon monoxide poisoning in a garage at a motel after leaving their car running.
How can one prevent such deaths from happening? Requiring carbon monoxide detectors in guestrooms and closable garages is certainly a good first step but adding "can't miss" signage where guests can't miss it also makes sense. Would the detectors have saved the teens? Probably. The signage? I suspect at least one of the teens would have seen it.
Don't assume guests, especially seniors and teens, will make the right decisions when it comes to leaving cars running in garages. Don't assume only boiler rooms create risks for carbon monoxide poisoning. Don't wait until it is required or a guest dies before minimizing your risk. Your thoughts?
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