FEATURE: SCHOOL MAINTENANCE & DESIGN
An Indoor Air Quality Risk Assessment Form, for example, can allow operators to categorise areas of high, medium and low risk and the necessary control measures and precautions needed for each. It can also be helpful to consider any existing hazards and the current health and safety measures that are already in place. The Risk Assessment Form is part of the BASH (Buildings As Safe Havens) Guide, which can be downloaded below.
It can also be useful to consider whether building operators need the help of an indoor air quality expert to assess the quality of air in their building, who can offer valuable insight into any questions or queries they may have.
Choose the right technology
Next, it’s important to select the right technology for the building in the long term. This is because no single piece of equipment is able to guarantee good indoor air quality in a building, and it may require multiple systems working alongside each other.
Energy efficiency is a key area to consider when choosing equipment. Systems such as Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR) are able to balance energy efficiency with the provision of fresh air ventilation and can be relatively quick and straightforward to install. MVHR systems recover between 80% and 90% of the energy from outgoing air to heat incoming fresh air, meaning less energy is needed to heat the building throughout the day. Filtration is also crucial to achieving good indoor air quality. Class ePM1 filters can remove particulate matter down to PM1, making them ideal for ventilation systems located in buildings close to roads in city centres. It might also be possible to retrofit new filters without disrupting building operation, depending on the type of ventilation equipment installed.
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Review and improve
Once the right technology has been chosen for the school building, it’s also vital to establish a regular service and maintenance regime for the equipment installed. This can help ensure systems are operating effectively and can help mitigate the risk of breakdowns or the need for unplanned repair further down the line. Regularly servicing units can also help reduce costs by identifying anything that needs correcting before it becomes a larger problem.
With awareness around the importance of good indoor air quality in our schools continuing to grow, students and staff must have access to
clean, healthy air in these spaces. By identifying the key areas for improvement, establishing a clear plan of action and selecting the right technology, owners and operators can improve the quality of air in these spaces in the months and years ahead.
We have published two useful guides to Indoor Air Quality in conjunction with BESA, which provide more information and can be downloaded here:
https://library.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/pdf/book/ Indoor_Air_Quality_Guide#page-1
https://library.mitsubishielectric.co.uk/pdf/book/ Buildings_As_Safe_Havens_BASH#page-1
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