Carbon monoxide death prompts change in Exchange District

WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg landlord is making some changes to his commercial building inspections after a man was killed due to carbon monoxide poisoning last week.

Richard Walls owns five commercial properties in the city. Right now he is only required to have CO detectors in rooms with a boiler. But after a man was found dead in a business on Tache Avenue, he said he isn’t taking any chances.

READ MORE: Carbon monoxide kills man at Winnipeg business, dozens more sick

“I think if you just go down to the hardware store, and buy a detector, plug it into your office socket or bedroom, it’s a good safety precaution,” said Walls.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I think if you just go down to the hardware store, and buy a detector, plug it into your office socket or bedroom, it's a good safety precaution," said Walls.

He’s now installing CO detectors in all of his buildings, commercial or not, even though the current fire code doesn’t require it.

Right now all buildings built after 2011 need to have a CO detector. For commercial buildings constructed before that, CO detectors only need to be installed where there’s a risk of carbon monoxide exposure.

Cindy Tugwell with Heritage Winnipeg said she wants to remove the grey area.

In 2017, she will be pitching a new maintenance plan for all buildings in the exchange, which would make having CO detectors mandatory.

“I certainly think, across the board that buildings in general should have a maintenance plan,” said Tugwell. “There should be an inspection by the city, and these are types of things that can be implemented, so tragedies don’t happen.”

In the meantime, Walls said businesses need to check their furnace intake to make sure snow isn’t covering anything.

“Just paying attention to where your furnace intake and exhaust is, and making sure you remove the snow,” said Walls.