Generator Carbon Monoxide on Enclosed Sites
29 CFR 1926.55 · This talk in Spanish
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Why it matters
Carbon monoxide has no color and no smell, and it kills without warning: a headache, then tired and confused, then you pass out. A portable generator running in a garage, basement, or tented enclosure can fill it with CO fast. Even with doors and windows open, exhaust drifts inside. Today: where generators go, and where they never go.
Hazards
- ⚠ Generators running inside garages, basements, and enclosed floors
- ⚠ Exhaust drifting in through doors, windows, and fresh-air intakes
- ⚠ Tented and plastic-wrapped enclosures trapping exhaust in winter
- ⚠ CO from multiple engines stacking up faster than one alone
- ⚠ Early symptoms (headache, dizziness, nausea) blamed on flu or fatigue
- ⚠ No CO monitor where fuel engines run near enclosed work
Controls and safe practices
- ✓ Generators run OUTSIDE only, at least 20 feet from doors, windows, and intakes, exhaust pointed away.
- ✓ Never inside a structure, garage, or enclosure, even with doors open, even for a few minutes.
- ✓ Use extension cords rated for the load to reach the work instead of moving the generator closer.
- ✓ CO monitors in enclosed or semi-enclosed work areas whenever engines run nearby.
- ✓ Winter enclosures and tenting get a ventilation plan before engines or heaters go in.
- ✓ Headache or dizziness on a site with engines: get to fresh air and report it immediately. Do not lie down to shake it off.
- ✓ If someone collapses in an enclosed space, do not rush in behind them; ventilate and call 911.
Crew discussion questions
- Where is our generator sitting right now, and where does its exhaust go?
- What enclosed or wrapped areas on this site could trap CO?
- Do we have a CO monitor, and who checks it?
- What symptoms have we been writing off as tiredness?
Applicable OSHA standards
29 CFR 1926.55
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