The Health Monitoring System

Carbon monoxide (CO) is an odorless, colorless, and non-irritating gas produced during the incomplete combustion of carbon-containing materials, for example, when heating appliances or domestic hot water systems malfunction. The Public Health Act of August 9, 2004, made the fight against CO poisoning a priority by strengthening prevention and regulations, as well as establishing a surveillance system coordinated by the French Institute for Public Health Surveillance. The objective of the surveillance system is to collect data on the circumstances surrounding CO poisoning incidents and their severity, and to assess the impact of public health policy in this area. Under this surveillance system, any CO poisoning—whether suspected or confirmed, occurring accidentally or intentionally, at home, in a public access building (ERP), in the workplace, or related to the use of an internal combustion engine—must be reported to the surveillance system.CO poisonings related to fires have been excluded from the surveillance system since 2008, as fires fall under a separate prevention strategy. This surveillance is based on five standardized questionnaires completed and entered by local stakeholders into a national computer application called "Siroco."