New Jersey Working Toward Law Requiring Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Schools, Buildings

Lawmakers in New Jersey are looking at creating a new state law that would require each commercial building and school to have carbon monoxide detectors, according to The Record. The bill, sponsored by Assemblyman Gary S. Schaer and Sen. Paul Sarlo, is being introduced this week and comes after two people died in a rehearsal studio this month from C02 poisoning.

CO detectors have long been required in hotels and single- and multi-family dwellings throughout the state. But the carbon monoxide leak at Streets Rehearsal studio in Passaic on Dec. 6 that claimed the lives of Clifton skateboard promoter Noel Korman and his girlfriend, Alice Park, highlighted a huge loophole in the state’s building code that the Schaer-Sarlo bill seeks to close.

“This tragedy could have been prevented by a reasonable requirement to have carbon monoxide detectors in a mixed-use commercial building,” Schaer, D-Passaic, said at a news conference Wednesday in front of Streets Rehearsal on Willet Street.

Read more about the proposal on The Record’s website or read some recent stories from HPAC Engineering on how to reduce carbon emissions and save money.