A blood test of a construction worker who collapsed outside a building owned by Yale University on Wednesday revealed that emergency workers detected potentially lethal amounts of carbon monoxide inside.
Thirteen more people were hospitalized, but officials said the discovery could have prevented an even bigger catastrophe.
“Disaster was averted here,” said Rick Fontana, New Haven's emergency operations director. “If this had continued for a long time, there could have been many more illnesses and deaths.”
Fontana said paramedics initially thought they were responding to a “routine medical call” when they brought an unconscious man to the hospital Wednesday morning.
However, an hour and a half later, the hospital reported that extremely high levels of carbon monoxide were detected in the worker's bloodstream.
When workers returned to the site, they found elevated levels of carbon monoxide inside the building and 13 people complaining of headaches.
It was later discovered that construction workers were using propane-powered saws to cut through the concrete inside the building.
Although it was ventilated, no smoke was coming from the building, Fontana said.
Of the 14 people hospitalized, nine were construction workers and five were members of the Yale University Security Department, which is located at the same facility, according to Mayor Justin Elicker's press secretary.
Fontana said the man was found collapsed outside a building several blocks from Yale's New Haven campus and was taken to a hyperbaric room at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, where he remained in critical condition. .
He said another worker was also in “pretty serious condition” but it was unclear where he was taken.
“That carbon monoxide is not something you can smell, see or feel,” he said. “Everyone thought they were properly vented until they were informed about the existence of this group.”
Fontana said a typical home carbon monoxide detector will sound an alarm if it detects 35 parts per million. In this situation, there was 350ppm, or 10 times the acceptable level.
Inhaling carbon monoxide fumes prevents the body from properly using oxygen and can damage organs such as the heart and brain.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the incident.
A Yale University spokesperson said in an email that it took about 30 minutes for carbon monoxide levels in the building to reach safe levels.
First responders from Yale University also checked adjacent areas, but no gas was detected.
