Failure To Comply With Carbon Monoxide Law Means Steep Fines For New York Businesses

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Time has run out to comply with a new law that makes carbon monoxide detectors mandatory in all New York state businesses.

Thursday's deadline could be a costly one for those who are caught without the device in their store or restaurant.

As CBS2's Carolyn Gusoff reported, it's been the law for a year, but businesses were given a grace period to comply. That time is up.

"There are businesses that haven't complied yet. We don't know if it's something they weren't notified about or they didn't realize," Commack Fire Dept. Fire Marshal, Joe Digiose said.

Local fire marshals are guiding business owners through a sometimes pricey installation. Big businesses need to get a hard-wired system.

"The existing fire alarm system now has carbon monoxide detection connected to it," Town of Babylon Fire Marshal, Anthony Cardalli explained.

Cardalli said detectors in large businesses are required at every heating vent.

"Because that's the source of carbon monoxide, the heating supply," he said.

There was no carbon monoxide detector at Legal Seafoods in Huntington when the deadly, odorless gas claimed the life of restaurant manager Steven Nelson. The new law has been named after him.

At the Commack Fire Department there have been a flurry of 11th hour inquiries from many confused by the 16 page law.

Small businesses need only have a plug-in detector with a 10 year battery, but that's news to some.

"Nobody told us about the new law," a worker at one salon said.

The need for detectors was demonstrated yet again last week at a West Babylon supermarket where a worker felt ill. When EMTs arrived they found high levels of carbon monoxide caused by a blocked oven flue.

The store is now installing a hard-wired system. Businesses that don't comply face fines of up to $1,000 a day.

The required detectors can range in price from $20 for a plug-in to thousands for a large commercial system.

Every year 400 people in the U.S. lose their lives due to carbon monoxide poisoning.