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Over several years, staff has conducted research and worked with voluntary standards organizations concerning the risk of injury and death associated with carbon monoxide (CO) production and leakage from residential gas furnaces and boilers. This proposed rule would establish a performance requirement, under which gas furnaces or boilers would be required to shut off or modulate when CO levels reach a specified level for a specified duration of time. In 2019, the Commission issued an advance notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) to initiate rulemaking under the Consumer Product Safety Act and requested comments on the risk of injury and alternative approaches to address the risk. On September 24, 2021, the Commission voted to change the fiscal year 2022 deliverable from a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) to Data Analysis and/or Technical Review (DA/TR). On February 9, 2022, staff provided a summary and status update in a public briefing to the Commission. Staff continues to investigate sensing technology to automatically adjust or shut off major gas appliances, such as furnaces and boilers, in response to dangerous operating levels of carbon monoxide in their combustion products and will share its findings with the relevant voluntary standards organizations. Staff is finalizing an NPRM briefing package and will submit it to the Commission in fiscal year 2023.

Statement of Need:

From 2014 through 2018, there were 108 deaths from CO poisoning from gas furnaces and boilers, with 30,587 nonfatal injuries in the same time period.

Summary of the Legal Basis:

This notice of proposed rulemaking is authorized by the CPSA. 15 U.S.C. 2051-2084. Section 7(a) of the CPSA authorizes the Commission to promulgate a mandatory consumer product safety standard that sets forth performance or labeling requirements for a consumer product if such requirements are reasonably necessary to prevent or reduce an unreasonable risk of injury. 15 U.S.C. 2056(a). Section 9 of the CPSA specifies the procedure that the Commission must follow to issue a consumer product safety standard under section 7 of the CPSA.

Alternatives:

The Commission could: (1) continue to work and advocate for change through the voluntary standards process; (2) rely on the use of residential CO alarms; (3) continue to conduct education and information campaigns; and (4) take no action.

Anticipated Costs and Benefits:

The proposed rule is estimated to avert 576 deaths (19.20 deaths per year) and 126,387 injuries (roughly 5,357 injuries per year) over 30 years. Overall, the draft proposed rule has total annualized benefits of $356.52 million, discounted at 3 percent, and for every $1 in direct cost to consumers and manufacturers, the draft proposed rule generates $0.59 in benefits from mitigated deaths and injuries.

Risks:

For the 20-year period, 2000 through 2019, these products were associated with a total of 539 CO deaths.