Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a critically important aspect of creating and maintaining school facilities. IAQ Design Tools for Schools provides both detailed guidance as well as links to other information resources to help design new schools as well as repair, renovate and maintain existing facilities. Though its primary focus is on indoor air quality, it is also intended to encourage school districts to embrace the concept of designing High Performance Schools, an integrated, "whole building" approach to addressing a myriad of important, and sometimes competing, priorities, such as energy efficiency, indoor air quality, day-lighting, materials efficiency, and safety, and doing so in the context of tight budgets and limited staff. This web-based resource contains recommendations and tools to help communities and design professionals integrate good indoor air quality practices into the design, construction, renovation, and operation and maintenance of K-12 school facilities. Practical, cost-effective actions ranging from walk-off entry mats to advanced ventilation systems can reduce contaminants in schools and help protect the health of children and staff.
Links
The links provide information about asbestos, indoor air quality, radon, asthma, allergies, mold, sick building syndrome, children's health protection, protecting the environment through energy efficiencies, underground storage tanks, and waste management.
Indoor Air Quality Association
Asbestos in Schools: What You Should Know
Asbestos: Permits and Licenses
Environmental Health at the Center for Disease Control
EPA Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools
Iowa Department of Natural Resources