Indoor Air Quality In Schools: The Way Forward
In the new normal, keeping students safe and healthy means ensuring that the air they breathe on campus is clean.
Principals and school administrators have always juggled competing priorities. From fielding parents’ concerns to balancing teachers’ needs with student wellness, campus management has gotten even more complicated thanks to the pandemic. There’s a new issue which takes paramount priority: keeping students and staff safe and healthy, and clean air is a major part of the equation.
Excellent air quality in schools: why it matters
With many children back in school full time, COVID-19 transmission has become a major source of worry for parents and administrators alike. Schools have emerged as hotspots for the virus, leading to institution-wide quarantines and the ensuing chaos as parents scramble to keep up with ever-changing health regulations.
But beyond COVID-19, there are a number of serious risks linked to poor indoor quality in schools. According to the EPA, bad air in educational institutions can:
- Diminish students’ academic performance
- Negatively reduce the performance and effectiveness of teachers and staff
- increase student absenteeism
- Lead to schools needing to close temporarily (for repairs) or permanently.
- Raise liability issues that could trigger lawsuits
- Generate negative publicity that may damage the school’s reputation
The first step to avoiding these serious issues is embracing air quality monitoring in schools. Administrators should take inventory of what potential contaminants are regularly released on campus in order to create a plan to mitigate their presence. Commonly found airborne contaminants in schools include:
- Molds, which significantly reduce air quality and can trigger allergies.
- VOCs generated by materials like paint, turpentine and other art supplies, and the custodial staff’s cleaning supplies
- Exhaust from cars and buses idling in the parking lot
Fortunately, there are air cleaner solutions that can help reduce the presence of these harmful airborne pollutants on campus.
Air purification systems in schools
An air purifier can be a make-or-break factor for your educational institution’s air quality, but not all air cleaning products have the same levels of efficacy and ease of use. For example, filter-based air cleaners simply remove large particles from the air – think dirt clumps and hair – while molds, bacteria, and viruses remain in circulation.
Another concern is maintenance. UV air purifier systems utilize bulbs that require regular changing, and filter systems need frequent, hands-on maintenance or risk losing their efficacy. To truly improve the air quality in your school, you need a no-fuss system that doesn’t require a ton of time and effort to maintain, but contains the contaminant-zapping power that your campus needs.
How TADIRAN AIROW helps
TADIRAN AIROW air purification system has been proven to dramatically reduce the presence of airborne viruses, molds, and bacteria, both in lab settings and in real world field tests in hospitals and movie theaters.
The system leverages unique proprietary technology which transforms water molecules already present in the air to cleansing, pathogen-eliminating hydrogen peroxide. The plug-and-play solution fits easily into your school’s existing HVAC system, and is totally hands-off when it comes to maintenance.
To keep everyone on your campus safe and healthy, consider a hydrogen peroxide air purifier to boost air quality in your school.
