WV Press Release Sharing

PHOENIX, AZ – A recent Qualtrics survey* revealed that U.S. consumers are often confused about the sounds emitted from home safety devices and are unsure how and when to react. When presented with an audible carbon monoxide (CO) alarm’s beep, only 34% of Spanish-speaking respondents and 47% of English-speaking respondents, were able to identify the beep emitted from a CO alarm. Most respondents were also unable to distinguish the difference between the beeps from a CO alarm, smoke alarm, or microwave oven.

This year’s Fire Prevention Week™ campaign, “Learn the Sounds of Fire Safety™” focuses on educating children and adults about the importance of smoke and carbon monoxide (CO) alarms and how they alert household members to emergency situations. More information at www.nfpa.org/fpw.

Knox Safety, a division of the Knox Company, recently introduced an advanced carbon monoxide alarm that not only detects CO, but alarms and alerts with voice messaging, icons, and a scrolling LCD display that provides information prior to the situation becoming a medical emergency.

“When seconds matter, a residential carbon monoxide (CO) alarm needs to do more than just beep,” says Cathy Prudhomme, Director of Marketing Communications, Knox Company. “Occupants are often confused on the actions they should take when alarms sound – and during a potential emergency is not the time to search for a product manual to determine why the alarm is sounding. As a breakthrough industry innovation, the Knox Safety carbon monoxide alarm delivers critical information along with potentially life-saving response actions in both English and Spanish.”

The Knox Safety CO alarm is the only one available with the TRIO™ Warning System that informs, directs, and alerts during a CO incident, enabling residents to respond quickly. Early and immediate detection is crucial, as research has shown young children, pregnant women, the elderly, and pets are often affected earlier than healthy adults.”

According to the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA), the best way to ensure a home’s residents are protected from dangerous levels of carbon monoxide is to install a CO alarm on every level of the residence, and in a central location outside of each sleeping area.

The Knox Safety CO Alarm is now available at Walmart stores in the 48 contiguous states.

New and advanced features offered by the Knox Safety CO Alarm include:

• More than 20 voice alerts in English or Spanish.

• Easy to read visual warning icons, action icons, and scrolling LCD text alerts also available in English or Spanish.

• The alarm differentiates between low and high levels of CO and alerts with the proper warnings and required safety actions.

• Peak level memory function which notifies when CO was previously detected and, if so, at what levels, to help trigger and encourage preventative actions.

The National Carbon Monoxide Awareness Association reports that CO is responsible for almost 50,000 emergency-room visits and 1,200 deaths annually, making it the leading cause of injuries, outpacing car accidents. You cannot see, taste, or smell CO. The only way to know when it’s present is with a working CO alarm. Currently, the Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that only 42 percent of U.S. households have working CO alarms.

*The Qualtrics consumer panel included 725 U.S. respondents aged 18-65 who were randomly selected for the online survey.