Thousands of Long Island businesses are facing fines of up to $1,000 a day

According to a new law adopted by New York State, all commercial buildings and restaurants are required to have carbon monoxide detectors if said building contains devices that may emit carbon monoxide.  The new rule officially took effect last month on June 27, 2016 after a one-year transition period (view our original article on the new NYS CO law). This change in regulation came in part as a response to the February 2014 death of a restaurant manager at Legal Seafoods in Huntington, Long Island. 

However, thousands of businesses on Long Island are not in compliance, despite the fact that the regulations took effect last week.  Lack of compliance can be attributed to either unfamiliarity with the new regulations, or attempting to avoid the sometimes pricey cost of implementation.  According to Newsday, “town fire marshals and building inspectors have been working with businesses for the past several months to make sure they are aware of the new regulations.”  As for the cost, it varies based on the type of system that is required; some businesses can add a detector for about $30, but larger businesses may require new systems that can cost thousands of dollars.  

Businesses in some towns such as Islip and Oyster Bay are reported as being fully in compliance, since those municipalities had existing regulations that required certain commercial facilities to have carbon monoxide detectors.  However, businesses in other municipalities—such as Babylon—have not reached these levels of compliance.  According to the Babylon Town Deputy Commissioner of Public Safety, 6% of businesses that he visited in the past year have received notices of non-compliance.