by Brianna Crandall — August 28, 2015—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new mobile application to assist schools and school districts with performing comprehensive indoor air quality (IAQ) facility assessments to protect the health of children and school staff. The School IAQ Assessment mobile app is a “one-stop shop” for accessing guidance from EPA’s Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools Action Kit.
The app provides EPA guidance on district-wide IAQ improvements in ventilation, cleaning and maintenance, environmental asthma triggers, radon, and integrated pest management.(Click on image to enlarge)
“Kids learn best in a healthy school environment. Now there’s an app for that! This app puts a powerful tool in the hands of people at the state, district and school level to protect children’s health,” commented Janet McCabe, assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “This mobile app is our latest effort to provide updated, user-friendly guidance to help schools identify, resolve and prevent indoor air quality problems, using low- and no-cost measures.”
The mobile app provides schools and school districts with an efficient, innovative technology integrated with proven strategies for addressing critical building-related environmental health issues such as ventilation, cleaning and maintenance, environmental asthma triggers, radon, and integrated pest management.
Schools that want to develop, sustain or reinvigorate their IAQ management programs can use this tool to identify and prioritize IAQ improvements. The School IAQ Assessment mobile app complements existing IAQ management programs and can become the central tracking mechanism schools and districts use to organize building assessments and prioritize IAQ improvements.
Today, half of the schools in the United States have adopted IAQ management programs, the majority of which are based on EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools guidance. EPA developed the mobile app to help these schools more efficiently carry out their IAQ management programs and to help the remaining nearly 60,000 schools to conduct regular and thorough assessments to ensure their schools are safe and productive places to learn.
How it works:
DOWNLOAD: Go to the School IAQ Assessment mobile app Web page and initiate the app on an Apple or Android smart device. Access the How to Get Started section to review the set-up options, intent and capabilities of the app.
ASSESS: Conduct a walkthrough of school buildings using a set of easy-to-follow checklists available through an Internet connection. Then, submit completed checklists via e-mail to a designated IAQ Coordinator for review and follow-up action. Photos and detailed notes about the assessed area can also be attached to the completed checklist submission.
DISCOVER: The completed checklists will identify IAQ concerns and validate good IAQ practices already in place. Checklists are provided to the school’s designated IAQ Coordinator with recommended action steps generated by the app to address identified IAQ problems. Recommendations are based on the Framework for Effective School IAQ Management for comprehensively addressing IAQ.
LEARN MORE: The mobile app includes other valuable resources from the IAQ Tools for Schools Action Kit, such as information on radon and asthma management in schools, as well as EPA’s newest guidance — Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades, which integrates IAQ protections into school energy retrofits and other building projects.
Visit EPA’s School IAQ Assessment mobile app Web page to download the app, or its Healthier Schools for Healthier Kids Web page to access other valuable school environmental health resources.
