School students spend at least 25 hours in classrooms every week.
That is in excess of 1,075 hours indoors in school buildings every year.
Poor air quality in schools because of inadequate ventilation poses serious risks both to health and to learning.
In New South Wales, teachers and students in our public education system deserve workplaces and learning environments that are productive, clean and safe, and this is not currently the case in far too many classrooms. In New South Wales it has been estimated that 98 per cent of classrooms are reliant on systems of so-called natural ventilation by opening windows, which immediately becomes ineffective when windows remain shut or are closed due to cold or inclement weather or outdoor air pollution.
Carbon dioxide is a useful proxy measure for ventilation. We all exhale it. When a room is crowded or poorly ventilated, the carbon dioxide level rises. As the motion states, classroom CO2 levels are easily exceeding 2,500 parts per million. The National Construction Code requires that indoor CO2 levels should not exceed 850 parts per million when averaged over eight hours, although this limit is not monitored or enforced. High CO2 has a direct negative impact on cognition as well as serving as a useful indicator of high risk of transmission of airborne infections like COVID-19, influenza, whooping cough and measles.
Queensland University of Technology professor Lidia Morawska has called for mandated indoor air quality standards and the use of low-cost sensors to monitor for CO2, particulate matter and carbon monoxide, as those three pollutants are solid indicators of poor air quality. Monitoring is cheap. A number of people at risk of adverse outcomes from respiratory infection have taken to carrying their own carbon dioxide monitors with them to indoor events. I understand that the Government has trialled air quality monitoring in 100 randomly selected schools. It should be rolled out in every classroom still relying on natural or temporary ventilation solutions, because this information does not just make the case for permanent ventilation upgrades; it can support people in real time to make decisions, like needing to open a window or choosing to put on a mask.
Here at the New South Wales Parliament we benefit from recently upgraded air ventilation, filtration and disinfection systems that exceed minimum standards. School students and staff deserve the same good air quality to protect their health, to safely include people at high risk of adverse outcomes of respiratory infection in education, to reduce sick leave for staff and parents and to improve learning. Many people are also advocating for better temperature control in classrooms to improve learning environments, and permanent remediation works for modern heating, ventilation and air conditioning [HVAC] systems can meet this need as well.
During the peak of the pandemic a lot of this work was done in a hurry. Temporary measures like portable air purifiers were brought in. I am not criticising that decision, but with everything we now know and continue to uncover about the harms of indoor air quality and how to mitigate it, permanent remediation works are required and the Government should have a plan for rolling this out as quickly as reasonably practical. University of Technology Sydney adjunct professor and architect Geoff Hanmer has estimated the cost to install proper HVAC systems in schools as a preventative health measure would be more than offset by savings from reduced sick leave by students, teachers and the broader school community. I commend the motion to the House.
To read more click on this link: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/Hansard/Pages/HansardResult.aspx#/docid/HANSARD-1820781676-98120/link/2300
