Hotel ordered to install CO detectors after serious leak

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This article was published 15/08/2019 (1715 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

After dozens of people were sent to hospital with carbon monoxide poisoning last month, a west Winnipeg hotel has installed 10 detectors to keep it from happening again.

Super 8 Winnipeg was ordered to install seven carbon monoxide monitors in public areas and hallways, and three CO propane and natural gas detectors in places where gas appliances are used.

On July 9, the hotel was evacuated and more than 40 people sent to hospital after carbon monoxide wasn’t properly vented from the building.

All those affected — including 15 who had been in critical condition — made a full recovery, officials said at the time. The cause of the carbon monoxide emission has not been released.

A spokesperson for Workplace Safety and Health said the order to install new carbon monoxide detectors was issued July 24 and complied with on July 30.

Owner Justin Schinkel declined to say Friday how many detectors were installed at the time of the incident.

“Our building is 100 per cent up to building, code and we continue to work with all authorities,” said Schinkel.

Workplace Safety and Health and the Office of the Fire Commissioner “continue to investigate, and are testing equipment that was in place at the time of the incident,” the spokesperson said in an email.

“Each investigation is unique, and it is important that we take the time required to ensure we accurately understand the circumstances surrounding this incident.”

Carbon monoxide detectors are required in many Manitoba public buildings, including places where people stay overnight, such as hotels.

Deputy fire commissioner Candace Russell-Summers previously told the Free Press the building was last inspected and found compliant in 2017. It’s next scheduled for inspection in 2020.

The number of carbon monoxide detectors required in a public building depends on the date it was built and renovations, and it’s not clear how many detectors were required or installed at the Super 8, Russell-Summers said.

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart