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SANDY — After a recent incident in which students and teachers at an elementary school were sickened by an undetected gas leak, Canyons School District is addressing the need for carbon monoxide detectors in its schools.
Canyons facilities director Rick Conger and risk management coordinator Kevin Ray have arranged for one detector to be placed in every building in the school district. That includes all schools, the Canyons Administration Building, Canyons Support Services Center, the bus depot and the warehouse. The district has invested about $1,200 in the initiative.
Crews will install the detectors before students, teachers and staff return to school on Monday. The devices will be placed in areas such as boiler and mechanical rooms, which have natural gas burning equipment.
While the district is not required to take these steps, the school board and administration believe in creating safe, clean and well-maintained learning and working environments for students and employees, the district said.
The incident at Montezuma Creek Elementary, which ended with no serious illnesses or deaths, has “definitely brought a lot of awareness to the hazards of carbon monoxide in our schools,” Ray said in a prepared statement. “As a district, we want to be proactive and do everything that we can do address the issue."
Video contributing: Nadine Wimmer
