VERY LOW ACTION
VERY LOW ACTION RECOMMENDED: • No action required • All outdoor areas are safe Minimal levels of air/noise pollutants currently in the area. Environmental conditions in and around your school are considered very good and healthy. ACTION RECOMMENDED: LOW • No immediate action required • However, prolonged exposure may have a future impact on health Low levels of air and/or noise pollutants currently in the area. Environmental conditions in and around your school are considered moderate and acceptable within a standard range according to the authorities. MEDIUM Understanding your HSI scores Identifying the immediate and most dangerous pollution parameter is always going to be critical so the ACOEM Healthy Schools Index purposefully does not combine environmental data to create an average environmental score. Instead the HSI score is an absolute value. If any one of the five pollution parameters has a high reading, it will automatically change the current HSI score and colour to match, alerting you of the potential hazard. This ensures faster threat identification so appropriate action can be taken to protect the health of students, staff and visitors. ACTION RECOMMENDED: • Staff and students with sensitivities to noise and/or air pollution should remain indoors with air conditioning systems operating that do not circulate outdoor air • Avoid prolonged outdoor exposure for all students and staff Medium levels of air and/or noise pollutants currently in the area. Environmental conditions in and around your school are considered unhealthy for sensitive groups including the very young, the very old and those with hearing, lung or respiratory conditions. ACTION RECOMMENDED: HIGH • Staff and students should remain indoors with air conditioning systems operating that do not circulate outdoor air High levels of air and/or noise pollutants currently in the area. Environmental conditions in and around your school are considered unhealthy for all people and wildlife. ACTION RECOMMENDED: VERY HIGH • Evacuate all staff and students in the quickest, safest way possible • Move people to a safer environment Air and/or noise quality at the school is hazardous.
“There is a 14% increase in childhood asthma risk for every 2µg/m 3 incremental increase in chronic exposure to traffic related particulate matter.” Bowatte et al 2015, European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, The influence of childhood traffic-related air pollution exposure on asthma, allergy and sensitization HOW ACCURATE IS THE DATA? AQMesh is the tried and tested name in small sensor technology for commercial use, with thousands of hours of real-world trials and placements in 30+ countries. No other commercially available small sensor system demonstrates better accuracy.* CONTACT US To learn more about how ACOEM’s HSI can help you better protect your school community, visit healthyschoolsindex.com or contact us at [email protected] Pollution levels can vary greatly over short distances – even 50 metres can make a big difference to data accuracy. When it comes to detecting potentially hazardous air and noise pollution levels, having one or more AQMesh pods at your school ensures that the data is ‘hyperlocal’ and far more representative than data from a governmentoperated environmental monitoring station that might be located kilometres away. * Environmental Instruments Ltd 2016, “Looking for a ‘low cost’ air quality monitoring solution?” healthyschoolsindex.com | 7
