Be sure to vent kerosene heaters outdoors. This will reduce your exposure to carbon monoxide, a deadly gas that can be formed as kerosene burns. Most people can withstand short exposures to fuel oil vapors without any problems. However, breathing fuel oil vapors overtime can affect a person's ability to smell and taste. High levels can cause headaches, nausea, light-headedness, poor coordination, increased blood pressure and difficulty concentrating.
Skin contact can cause irritation that results in itchiness, redness, pain, blisters, and peeling.
Swallowing fuel oil can cause vomiting, diarrhea, swelling of the stomach, cramps, coughing, drowsiness, restlessness, irritability and breathing difficulties. Drinking more than an ounce can result in coma or death. Most accidental poisonings involve children. Many of these children drink kerosene that was being kept in old soft drink bottles. Exposure to fuel oil is not known to cause cancer in humans.