TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS IAQ BACKGROUNDER

Why IAQ is Important to Your School

Environmental studies estimate that most people spend about 90% of their time indoors. In addition, the typical school has about four times as many occupants as office buildings per same amount of floor space. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) studies indicate that indoor levels of pollutants may be 2-5 times, and occasionally more than 100 times, higher than outdoor levels. They have consistently ranked indoor air pollution among the top five environmental health risks to the public. Failure to recognize indoor air problems, or failure to respond promptly, in schools can have consequences such as:

• increasing the risk for long term and short term health problems for students and staff
• impacting the student learning environment, comfort, and attendance
• reducing performance of teachers and staff due to discomfort, sickness, or absenteeism
• accelerating deterioration and reducing efficiency of the school physical plant and equipment
• increasing the potential risk that schools will have to be evacuated, or occupants temporarily relocated
• straining relationships among school administration and parents and staff
• creating potential liability problems

Indoor air problems can be subtle and do not always produce easily recognized impacts on health, well-being, or the physical plant. Children are especially susceptible to air pollution. For this and the reasons noted above, air quality in schools is a concern - proper maintenance of indoor air is more than a “quality” issue, it encompasses safety and stewardship of our investment in the students, staff, and facilities.

      Typical Sources of Indoor Air Pollutants

Understanding IAQ Problems and Solutions (refer to above TABLE)     

Over the past several decades, exposure to indoor air pollutants has increased due to a variety of factors, including the construction of more tightly sealed buildings, reduced ventilation rates to save energy, the use of synthetic building materials and furnishings, and the use of chemically-formulated personal care products, pesticides, and housekeeping supplies. In addition, our activities and our decisions, such as deferring maintenance to “save” money, lead to problems from sources and ventilation. Four basic factors affect IAQ:

• outside sources (polluted outdoor air, nearby sources, underground sources)
• building equipment (air-conditioning (HVAC) system and non-HVAC)
• pollutant pathways (mechanical ventilation, human activity, natural effects)
• occupants (staff, students, and other people who spend extended periods of time in the school).

Indoor air contaminants can originate within the building or be drawn in from outdoors. If pollutant sources are not controlled, IAQ problems can arise, even if the HVAC system is properly operating.  Indoor air pollutant concentration levels can vary by time and location within the school building, or even a single classroom. Pollutants can be emitted from point sources, such as from science store rooms, or from area sources, such as newly painted surfaces, and pollutants can vary with time, such as only once each week when floor stripping is done, or continuously such as fungi growing in the HVAC system.

Six Basic Control Strategies for Lowering Indoor Air Pollutants (Checklists include specific applications):

1) Source Management includes:  Source removal: no buses idling near outdoor air intakes, no garbage in rooms with HVAC equipment; Source substitution: using "green" art materials or non-VOC interior paints; Source encapsulation: placing a barrier around the source so that it releases fewer pollutants into the indoor air (e.g., asbestos abatement, pressed wood cabinetry with sealed or laminated surfaces).

2) Local Exhaust removes point sources of pollutants before they can disperse into the indoor air by exhausting the contaminated air outside. For example: restrooms, kitchens, science labs, storage rooms, printing and duplicating rooms, and vocational/ industrial areas such as welding booths and art rooms (kilns, etc.).

3) Ventilation through use of cleaner (outdoor) air to dilute the polluted (indoor) air that people are breathing. For situations such as painting, pesticide application, or chemical spills, temporarily increasing the ventilation can be useful in diluting the concentration of noxious fumes in the air.

4) Exposure Control includes adjusting the time and location of use. For example, strip and wax floors after Friday school dismissal, so that the floor products have a chance to off-gas over the weekend, reducing the level of odors or contaminants in the air when the school is occupied thereby moving the contaminating source as far as possible from occupants, or relocating susceptible occupants.

5) Air Cleaning primarily involves the filtration of particles from the air as the air passes through the ventilation equipment (pollen, animal dander).

6) Education of the school occupants regarding IAQ is critical. If people are provided information about the sources and effects of contaminants under their control, and about the proper operation of the ventilation system, they will better understand their indoor environment and can act to reduce their personal exposure.

How Do You Know if You Have an IAQ Problem?

Acute (short-term) symptoms of IAQ problems typically are similar to those from colds, allergies, fatigue, or the flu. However, a lack of symptoms does not ensure that IAQ is acceptable. Symptoms from long-term health effects (such as lung cancer due to radon) often do not become evident for many years.

• the symptoms are widespread within a class or within the school
• the symptoms disappear when the students or staff leave the school building for a day
• the onset is sudden after some change at school, such as painting or pesticide application
• persons with allergies, asthma, or chemical sensitivities have reactions indoors but not outdoors
• a documented case of a student or staff member has an indoor air-related illness

Your Role in the IAQ Team

The management of pollutant sources and the use of ventilation for pollutant control are based on the principles that many IAQ problems can be prevented and resolved by using the skills of school staff and students. Your activities and decisions have an impact on the quality of indoor air. You can have an impact by applying the activities noted in your Tools for Schools Checklist, and by continuing to apply these principles on a daily basis. Your completed checklists will be reviewed by an IAQ Coordinator and will serve as a focal point for collecting IAQ information and handling IAQ concerns.

Goal of the Checklists

The goal of the Checklist is to provide clear and easily applied activities that you can use to help prevent indoor air quality problems and resolve any problems promptly if they do arise.  Expense and effort required to prevent most IAQ problems is much less than the expense and effort required resolving problems after they develop.

What if You Think You Have an IAQ Problem?

If the problem is self-evident, then attempt to correct the problem. If the problem cannot be corrected, or if the complaint seems to indicate a potentially severe IAQ problem, contact the IAQ Coordinator immediately. The IAQ Coordinator may ask you questions to try to identify whether you have overlooked potential causes of the problem (such as, “Has anything changed since the last time you completed your Checklist?”), and then may call in other help from within or outside the school to investigate further.

Communication

Because indoor air problems can jeopardize the health of students and staff, parents and the public may react strongly to reports of bad indoor air quality in your school. With this in mind, it is recommended that you follow the communications guidelines established by the IAQ Coordinator. Usually, this will involve referring questions from the public and media to one central source, the IAQ Coordinator for your school. In this way, students, parents, staff, and the public will not become alarmed by conflicting or wrong information, and will have a consistent and complete source of information regarding the quality of the indoor air in your school.

 http://www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/actionkit.html#Backgrounder