It's known as the 'silent killer,' and while most Canadian homes have a working carbon monoxide detector, a new poll finds key information is lacking.
Carbon monoxide - a colourless, odourless and tasteless gas - remains the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in North America
And a new Ipsos Reid poll finds that most Canadians are unaware of key information to help protect themselves and their families from the deadly gas.
John Gignac is the co-chair of the Hawkins-Gignac Foundation. He knows all too well the importance of carbon monoxide education.
His niece, OPP officer Laurie Hawkins, along with her husband and two children, were killed by accidental CO poisoning in December 2008.
"When this happened to Laurie, it took us six years to get the law passed. But once we got the law passed, the law states that everybody has to have one working, CSA-approved CO alarm in their home and it has to be outside their sleeping quarters."
The good news is the poll found 94 per cent of Ontario homeowners - with a least one source of potential CO gas in their home - say they have CO alarms installed.
The bad news? Only 21 per cent of Ontario homeowners were aware that the alarm needs to be replaced every seven to 10 years under Canadian Standards Association guidelines.
Gignac says, "The biggest problem we are having right now is a lot of people in Ontario are not aware of how to look after them, when to replace them, and what to do with them once they put them in."
Rick Jefferson, public information officer with the London Fire Department, says they are working on awareness.
"What we've tried to do for several years now is to tie in the changing of the clocks with the replacement of the batteries, and that's for smoke alarms and carbon monoxide alarms as well. "
Currently, Ontario and the Yukon are the only two Canadian jurisdictions that have passed mandatory carbon monoxide alarm laws.
Carbon Monoxide Awareness week runs from Nov. 1-7.
