Protect pupils from 'alarmingly poor' school air quality, says Elta
With nearly nine out of 10 new school sites above the World Health Organisation (WHO) targets on major air pollutants, Elta is urging decision makers for schools' building services to address the problem through a 'three-step' process to ventilation specification and maintenance.
The callout follows a study led by researchers from Evelina London Children's Hospital and King's College London (KCL). Following their analysis of 147 new school locations around England that were to be built between 2017 and 2025, the researchers found that 86% of those sites exceeded air quality targets.
Those targets are for particulate matter PM2.5, PM10, and NO2 (Nitrogen Dioxide), leading to the conclusion that air quality around new schools is 'alarmingly poor'. With emerging studies also showing that poor air quality leads to lowered cognitive growth, Elta, outlines three measures to tackle the problem.
The three steps are aimed at preventing poor air from entering the school building and classrooms, including:
- Installing air monitoring equipment in schools to identify concentrations of particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, and other contributors to poor air quality
- Using correctly specified mechanical ventilation systems to process and filter air of harmful particulate matter and substances, to bring indoor air quality to a safe level
- Having a robust maintenance schedule in place to clean ventilation equipment on a regular basis
David Millward, Group Product Manager at Elta Group, parent company of Elta, said: 'This latest study by Evelina London Children's Hospital and King's College London is a harsh wake up call to everybody in the country and is a reminder that poor air quality has a real detrimental effect on children. Not only is it harmful from a health perspective, putting pupils with respiratory conditions like asthma at higher risk, but poor air also impairs childrenÕs learning and ability to concentrate.'
