Helpline ventilation is red hot
The ventilation helpline, set up by the ministry, is red hot. More than two hundred primary and secondary schools already want an expert to take a look at improving ventilation.
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This was said by education minister Dennis Wiersma (VVD) on Tuesday during question time in the House of Representatives. Kenniscentrum Ruimte-OK, once set up by the PO council, VO council and the Association of Dutch Municipalities, handles the day-to-day handling of questions. "So my impression is that schools can at least find that counter," said Wiersma in the Chamber. "I'm happy with that, because then help is also nearby."
Visit
Housing expert at Ruimte-OK, Jeroen Paas, reports that this now concerns more than two hundred schools and that concrete agreements have been scheduled with XNUMX locations. The number will continue to rise. Schools that have an appointment are visited by an expert from Ruimte-OK. “We make a tour of the school, have a meeting with the director and prevention officer and always give instructions to the team so that they can ventilate better where possible and show what they can pay attention to.”
The knowledge center does not perform measurements. “We do, however, give advice on how you can take measurements – preferably periodically – so that schools can get to work with them.” If a building no longer complies with the Building Decree, an expert will say that they must immediately start working on it. “However, this is the case at few schools,” says Paas. The tricky part is sometimes that schools comply with a Building Decree, but not well enough with the Arbo standard. “Then we identify this and give advice on what they can do in the short term, for example using the Suvis scheme† The knowledge center also supports administrators at a strategic level when they need to talk to municipalities.
Questions
In addition to requests for help from boards, there have also been teachers who know where to find the hotline. “We are getting a lot of questions about CO2 meters at the moment and questions such as: when do I ventilate properly and how do I do that without it getting too cold,” says the expert. The meters help educational staff to see how the ventilation is going. Paas: “It really is a tool and gives an indication. Bee 1000ppm*Do you want to know more about the guidelines? Download the brochure of the AOb for the basic education . mbo and higher education. (parts per million) it's good. If it is between 1000-1400, then you are in the yellow zone and you can sometimes still get it down with simple measures. According to the GGD, anything above 1400 ppm is really too high.”
Headache
For senior secondary vocational education and higher education, the AOb this week itself established a hotline. Four reports have now been received, all from senior secondary vocational education. For example, an employee of a ROC in the west of the country reports that the ventilation is very poor, it is often too hot. "Last Monday I left the location with a headache," the employee writes.
Another employee of an MBO institution in Brabant reports that staff are not allowed to hang CO2 meters in the classrooms and that there are concerns about the attitude of the board. 'We are normally told that the ventilation is in order, that the grilles are being cleaned, but we have never been allowed to see a report on air quality measurements.' The same administrative attitude: 'the ventilation is in order and that's it,' says an employee of yet another MBO institution. 'Students and teachers have headaches and are tired. We're told to put up a door, but there's too much noise in the hallways.'
Do you work in senior secondary vocational education or higher education and do you have a complaint about ventilation? Report it to the AOb. Would you like more information about ventilation? Then take a look at the brochures of the AOb for the basic education or for it mbo and higher education
