Carbon monoxide detection
isn't one size fits all

Commercial daycares and preschools abound in urban and rural communities. Teachers are often younger, and may not require full preparedness training. Many states do not require CO detection in commercial daycare environments. 

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At a daycare or preschool:

• Children will begin feeling the affects of carbon monoxide ahead of adults due to their stage of development

• Children sleep on site 

• Ages of children on site are typically 6 weeks in age to 6 years in age and rely on unimpaired thinking and abilities from supervising adults during emergency situations

• Young children are unable to remove themselves from the property during evacuation situations

• If detection not installed, caregivers who may/may not have had CO awareness and situational training would be required to notice something's wrong and evacuate building – that's if they're not impaired themselves.

According to NCES, there are close to 131,000 private and public K-12 schools in the United States, each providing education of children in range of 5-18 years of age. 

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At a K-12 school:

• Current building codes are related to fixed fuel-burning sources only, predominantly for new construction buildings – leaving gaps in safety for portable CO-producing devices brought or used on site

• Every state, and possibly even jurisdiction within those states, will follow different building codes that would effect the types of and number of detection devices on site

• Many states only require or enforce carbon monoxide detection in new construction only – leaving aging, existing schools unprotected

• Teachers + staff would be required to be the primary source of noticing group symptoms, behavior changes in their class if detection not installed

Colleges and universities have multiple types of buildings on their campus – dormitories, Greek housing, assemblies, gymnasium and sport complexes, laboratories, lecture halls, restaurants and classrooms. Each individual building will be required to follow different codes and standards based on its use.

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At a college/university:

• Emergency preparedness orientations and drills don't often involve the occupants of the properties (only staff)

• Heavier traffic on campus from vehicles, lawn maintenance and on-site construction sources

• Athletic events/tailgating events bring generators, grilling and vehicle exhaust into an on-campus space where exposure to CO will occur

• Without detection, other students would likely be responsible for notifying and alerting to a CO issue for evacuation – if they've even had CO awareness training or education.