Carbon Monoxide in Student Housing: The Overlooked Student Safety Risk

When families think about student safety in higher education, they often focus on things like campus crime, mental health resources, or fire safety. What rarely comes to mind is carbon monoxide (CO), an invisible, odorless gas that continues to poison and kill students and visiting community members in college housing across the United States.

And yet, the data tells a sobering story.

According to the CO Safe Schools national incident database, we have tracked 78 known carbon monoxide incidents on higher education campuses. Of those:

• 46 incidents occurred in on-campus student housing (dorms, residence halls, campus apartments, Greek housing)

• 10 occurred in campus-adjacent housing, just off campus but heavily occupied by students

• 125 students and adults were treated on site

• 574 were hospitalized

• 15 people died

  
  

These are not rare anomalies. They are preventable incidents happening in spaces where students sleep, study, and live, often without knowing they are at risk.

by: Zach Odom/Commercial Dispatch Staff

Where Students Are Most Vulnerable: On- and Off-Campus Housing

Unlike classrooms or administrative buildings, student housing is occupied 24/7. Students sleep, shower, cook, study, and gather in these spaces, often (and unknowingly) with fuel-burning appliances located just feet away.

Common housing types include:

• traditional dormitories

• suite-style or pod housing

• on-campus apartments

• fraternity and sorority houses

• campus-adjacent apartment complexes

Each of these spaces may fall under different building codes, different occupancy classifications, and different CO detection requirements, even within the same campus.

That means a dormitory room, a fraternity house, and a nearby student apartment could all be governed by entirely different rules for carbon monoxide detection, despite housing the same students.

The Human Cost: Incidents That Changed Lives

Several cases in our database illustrate how dangerous these gaps can be.

At Evergreen State College (Washington) in December 2023, one student died, and others were critically injured after a new tankless water heater's air intake and exhaust pipes were installed incorrectly. Even more troubling, students were reportedly given incorrect advice about their alarms by the maintenance team, delaying evacuation and response.

At UW–Milwaukee (Wisconsin) in March 2022, multiple students were severely poisoned in campus housing. In the aftermath, students and families reported confusion, delayed communication, and uncertainty about housing options, leaving many displaced without clear guidance.

At Dartmouth College in 1934, nine student deaths occurred in the Theta Chi fraternity house after a student unfamiliar with the furnace tried to fix it, mistakenly allowing carbon monoxide to build up overnight while occupants slept.

At Roanoke College (Virginia) in 2006, an elderly visitor died, and 114 teens and adults were hospitalized while attending campus events in a dorm building without carbon monoxide detectors.

A carbon monoxide exposure at the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy sent 70 cadets to the hospital after a boiler's "lack of maintenance" led to an on-site leak in November 2018. Even though Iowa had passed a law the previous year requiring on-site detection in that type of building, carbon monoxide detectors were not installed.

This shows carbon monoxide in college housing span regions, building types, and campus sizes, but they share common threads.

The Core Issues We See Again and Again

We believe that carbon monoxide detection should never be optional in spaces where students are being provided education or accommodations. There is no federal mandate requiring this protection across the United States, and the "CO detection gap" from space to space remains the biggest issue in student housing.

In addition, across higher education CO incidents, three systemic failures consistently appear:

1. Lack of Training and Awareness

Most students, staff, and even faculty do not receive meaningful education on:

• what carbon monoxide is

• where it comes from

• how symptoms present

• what alarms sound like

• what to do when one activates

• where CO-producing sources are located in/around their housing

CO safety is rarely included in orientations, RA training, or campus fire safety programs, despite its deadly potential.

2. Poor or Delayed Communication

After CO incidents, students and families often report:

• vague language like “gas odor” or “HVAC issue”

• delayed notifications

• unclear evacuation instructions

• little transparency about cause or future prevention

In a crisis involving an invisible toxin, clarity saves lives.

3. Inadequate Housing Contingency Plans

When housing is rendered unsafe, many campuses struggle to provide:

• immediate alternative lodging

• longer-term accommodations

• clear guidance for displaced students

CO incidents don’t just cause medical emergencies; they disrupt lives.

The Hidden Curriculum: What Students Aren’t Being Taught When It Comes to Carbon Monoxide in Student Housing

In campus fire safety, we talk openly about evacuation routes, fire extinguishers, and smoke alarms. Carbon monoxide, however, often lives in the shadows.

This is what we call the “hidden curriculum” of CO safety: the critical knowledge students and staff need but are rarely taught.

Students should know:

• common CO sources in housing (water heaters, boilers, furnaces, generators, stoves)

• early symptoms of exposure

• the difference between smoke alarms and CO alarms

• why sleeping makes CO exposure more dangerous

• how to respond immediately when an alarm activates

Treating CO education as optional, or assuming someone else will cover it, has cost lives.

Why Code Requirements Aren’t Enough

One of the most confusing realities for families is that carbon monoxide detection requirements are not uniform across states, or even across buildings on the same campus.

Detection requirements vary based on:

• the state

• the edition of the building or fire code in use

• whether the space is classified as residential, educational, or assembly

• whether the building is new or existing

A dormitory may be treated differently than an auditorium. A fraternity house may fall under residential code. An apartment just off campus may have fewer protections than housing across the street.

Because there is no federal requirement for CO detection in student housing, protection depends largely on where a campus is located and how its buildings are classified.

The Reality Students Face: “Bring Your Own Alarm”

Ideally, no student should be responsible for supplying their own life-safety equipment.

And yet, many students and parents are advised, informally mind you, to bring personal carbon monoxide alarms or monitors when moving into campus or off-campus housing.

This reflects a troubling reality:

• CO detection is inconsistent

• students don’t know what protection exists

• institutions often cannot guarantee uniform coverage

Personal alarms should be a layer of protection, not the primary one, but until standards catch up, many students are being asked to protect themselves.

Where We Go From Here

Carbon monoxide incidents in higher education are not inevitable. They are preventable.

What’s needed is:

• consistent CO detection in all student housing

• clear, standardized language when incidents occur

• robust training for students, RAs, and staff

• transparent communication during emergencies

• housing contingency plans that prioritize student safety

Most importantly, campuses must treat carbon monoxide safety as core infrastructure, not an afterthought.

Until CO safety becomes mainstream, students will continue to bear the burden of navigating invisible risks in spaces meant to keep them safe.

And that’s something we can, and must, change.