MANAGEMENT {HEALTH AND SAFETY}
What is the solution to air safety in schools? After plans to use ozone machines to disinfect Welsh classrooms were recently abandoned, EDEXEC wonders what the solution to air safety in schools might be
T
he Welsh government confirmed last month that they were abandoning the use of ozone machines to disinfect classrooms after a review found that they were potentially ‘highly harmful’ to children. Welsh ministers had previously announced they would spend £3.31m on 1,800 new ozone machines developed by Swansea University - they then U-turned and said that this cash would, instead, be used in schools and colleges to improve ventilation. At the time Swansea University defended the safety of the machines. However, the review warned that the gas ozone, which can be used as a disinfectant ‘is a highly harmful indoor pollutant which
24
December 2021
is associated with harm to human health at low concentrations and damages diverse and integral components of indoor environments’. It found that children, and those with underlying respiratory conditions, were ‘particularly sensitive to ozone exposure’ and that the gas ‘reacts with a range of compounds present indoors to generate persistent harmful secondary aerosols’. Despite the issues with these machines, the Welsh government said they were still committed to the roll out of carbon dioxide monitors in classrooms which is set to be completed by mid-November. The monitors will notify teachers and lecturers when CO2 levels rise, so they can identify where ventilation
