February Smoking and Medical Oxygen
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Smoking
is the leading factor in home fires involving medical oxygen.
Many
people using medical oxygen have other health issues that may prevent them from
escaping the fire, responding to a smoke alarm, etc. For this reason, there is
no substitute for prevention.
Since
the safest place to smoke is outdoors, most of these fires happen when it is
too cold to go outside to smoke.
Oxygen makes things burn much
faster. Think of what happens when you blow into a fire; it makes the flame
bigger. Normally, the air we breathe is about 20% oxygen. The air delivered to
patients using medical oxygen therapy is nearly 100%, making it extremely
flammable.
Smokers who use home oxygen
may understand the need to turn the tank off before lighting up, but may not
realize that the danger persists, even when the oxygen isn’t flowing. Oxygen can
build up not only in the home, but also on the hair, clothes, and body of the
patient and ignite when a heat source—like a cigarette—comes close to the face,
causing severe burns.
Facial hair raises the risk
of home oxygen therapy-related burns.
There is no safe way to smoke
when using home oxygen. Should an individual need to smoke, it is important to
first turn off the tank, and wait 10 full minutes before going outside to
smoke.
Put
a "NO SMOKING" sign in every room where oxygen is used.
More
than 1 million people in the United States use home oxygen therapy, and it is
on the rise around the world, especially in countries where smoking is
increasing, the researchers say.