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Understanding Drivers of Indoor Air Quality Performance in London’s Nurseries
Epidemiological studies have linked air pollutants to increasing mortality and hospital admissions. Children, particularly under six years old attending nurseries, are more vulnerable than healthy adults. They have a higher amount of air inhalation, often spend more time in school than school-aged children (average 7-11 h per weekday), and are more vulnerable physiologically due to their immature immune systems. Improving indoor air quality in the nursery environment, is important for the health of children, particularly in urban areas where outdoor concentrations represent health risks. However, there is a significant lack of data about the indoor air quality of nurseries. Although numerous studies have considered the health benefits of different particle filtration methods, the efficacy, health and financial implications of using air purifiers in nursery school environments need to be developed.
In this study, four nurseries in London have been selected based on their exposure risks. In each nursery, monitoring equipment will be placed in one classroom with an air purifier, one or two control classrooms and one in an outdoor location. To get a general understanding of the current indoor air quality situation in nurseries, indoor and outdoor concentration data of temperature, relative humidity, CO2, CO, NO2, O3, TVOCs, PM10, PM2.5 and PM1 data will be collected consistently for a 9-12 month period using active sampling methods. Passive sampling will also be used for monitoring NO2, O3 and targeted VOCs. Air purifiers are going to be used in one or two classrooms in each selected nursery. Collected data will be compared with the data from control classrooms without air cleaners, for validating the effectiveness of the purification system. Results and analysis from this research will be compared to the conclusions of previously published studies. Finally, this research hopes to engage public servants, industry professionals and nursery teachers, providing practical advice about how to improve indoor air quality in nurseries.