Toolbox Talk · Health · English
Migna Safety Solutions
Carbon Monoxide
About 9 minutes to deliver · 29 CFR 1910.1000 · 29 CFR 1926.55 · 29 CFR 1926.354
Carbon monoxide has no colour, no smell and no taste. Your body takes it up in place of oxygen and holds onto it, so you keep getting worse in an atmosphere that feels no different from when you walked in.
The limit in Table Z-1 of 1910.1000 is 50 ppm over eight hours. A petrol generator running in an enclosed space reaches many times that in minutes.
What produces it
Anything burning fuel:
- Generators and compressors — the classic. Never inside, never in a doorway, never in a partly open garage or a trailer.
- Propane and kerosene salamander heaters, which is why CO poisoning peaks in winter.
- Petrol-powered concrete saws, floor buffers, pressure washers, power trowels and plate compactors used indoors. A petrol cut-off saw in a basement will put a crew down.
- Forklifts and vehicles running indoors or at a loading dock.
- Welding and cutting, and any exhaust ducted somewhere it can be drawn back in.
Electric or pneumatic tools instead of petrol is the single best control on this list.
The symptoms lie
- Early: headache, tiredness, feeling slightly sick, dizzy, out of breath on stairs. Every one of those reads as a long shift or a bug.
- Then: confusion, poor coordination, chest pain, vomiting, blurred vision.
- Then: collapse and death.
Two things to hold onto. If more than one person in the same space has a headache, get everyone out — that pattern is CO until proved otherwise. And the classic "cherry red skin" almost never shows up before somebody is critical, so do not wait for it.
What to do
- Get out into fresh air immediately. Do not go back in for anyone unless you have supplied air and a plan — CO has killed rescuers who walked in after their workmate.
- Call 911 and say you suspect carbon monoxide. They can measure it and they carry oxygen.
- Anyone exposed goes to hospital even if they feel better outside. CO stays bound in the blood for hours and the treatment is oxygen.
Preventing it
- Engines outdoors, downwind, well away from any opening. Doors and windows count as openings, and so does an air intake.
- A CO monitor in any enclosed space where fuel is burning, and a personal one for confined space work. This is cheap and it is the only thing that sees it.
- Ventilation you can point at, not a cracked door.
- Maintain the heaters. A yellow, lazy flame instead of a blue one means incomplete combustion, which means CO.
Ask the crew
- Is anything burning fuel inside or near an opening today?
- Do we have a working CO monitor, and where is it?
- Has anyone had a headache on this job that they put down to a long day?
This is a toolbox talk, not a course. It is general awareness on one topic — not site-specific, not a hazard assessment, and not a substitute for assessment of your workplace by a competent person, your written programs, or manufacturers’ instructions. It does not by itself satisfy any OSHA training requirement. Regulations change; verify against the current standard. Whoever delivers it is responsible for deciding it is suitable and sufficient for the work. Where a talk covers first aid, resuscitation, or mental health it is general safety information, not medical advice, not a substitute for professional medical care or certified emergency-response training, and it confers no certification — in an emergency, call 911. Free to print and use, as is, with no warranty of any kind. Migna Safety Solutions · training.mignasafetysolutions.com
Attendance Record
Form supplied by Migna Safety Solutions
Carbon Monoxide
29 CFR 1910.1000 · 29 CFR 1926.55 · 29 CFR 1926.354
I delivered this talk and determined it was suitable for this crew and this work.
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Keep this sheet with your training records. This form is supplied blank by Migna Safety Solutions — we did not deliver this session, were not present, and make no representation about what was said or who attended. A toolbox talk is general awareness on one topic and does not by itself satisfy any OSHA training requirement. The employer remains responsible for site-specific hazard assessment and for the training its workers are required to have. Where a talk covers first aid, resuscitation, or mental health it is general safety information, not medical advice, and confers no certification — in an emergency, call 911. Free to print and use, as is, with no warranty of any kind. training.mignasafetysolutions.com