Pubs, restaurant and bars are facing increased safety requirements relating to carbon dioxide emissions in premises. AGA, the international industrial gases group, is launching a carbon dioxide detection system to help them deal with this problem.

Tighter laws regulating such emissions came into force in Germany at the beginning of June this year and more stringent EU regulations are expected to come into effect within the next few years.
Under these rules, owners of pubs, restaurant and bars throughout Europe will have a duty to protect employees from carbon dioxide leakage in cellars containing carbonation and drinks dispensing systems, for example.
In Germany alone more than 240,000 premises are affected by the new legislation and it is estimated that more than 1 million will be covered by the proprose EU rules. Failure to comply results in a heavy fine and threat of closure.

Collaboration
The detection system has been developed in collaboration with Calectro, a Swedish company that specialises in carbon dioxide detection equipment. The accuracy of the system is high according to AGA, in the region of +/- 20 parts per million with an estimated operating life of at least 15 years.
Carbon dioxide is a colourless and odourless gas which in excessive amounts can cause headaches, dizziness, changes in blood pressure and loss of consciousness. Fortunately such effects soon disappear if the victim is taken into fresh air but at higher concentrations the symptoms appear similar to that in stroke victims.
Normally the atmosphere contains about 0.03% of carbon dioxide. When it comes to short term exposure, many countries apply a limit of 3% for periods of up to 15 minutes.
The equipment provides a warning at a level of 1.5% and a further alarm at 3%, should this upper level be reached. This warning system uses advanced infrared measuring techniques to continuously monitor and display the carbon dioxide level in the cellar to provide visible and audible warnings should pre-set levels be exceeded.

Increasing use of CO2
Increasing quantities of carbon dioxide are used on premises in the drinks trade for a variety of tasks from carbonation to drinks dispensing systems.
In Germany, the detection system has already been approved TÜV, the offical German safety approval institution, and AGA believes that such approval will give it a marketing edge as other countries introduce tougher emissions limits.

Caption: Using infrared detection techniques, AGA's carbon dioxide system monitors CO2 levels in the cellar to provide visible and audible warnings should pre-set levels be exceeded.


For further information contact:
INTERNATIONAL
AGA AB
Mats Wallnér
SE-181 81 LIDINGÖ, Sweden
Tel +46 8 731 10 00
Fax +46 8 765 04 68
Email mats.wallner@aga.se

GERMANY
AGA Gas GmbH & Co. KG
Guido Lorenz
Juchostraße 95, DE-44143 Dortmund
Tel: 0231 56 20 27-57;Fax: 0231 56 20 27-63

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