Petition to provide HEPA filters in schools and colleges

[Jellybeanz]

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/595205

[Jellybeanz]

Posting again as this is SO important and we can all do something to encourage the government to fund HEPA filters, as well as CO2 monitors (which they claim to have supplied - untrue in vast majority of places of education).

Thanks for your help ED folk!

Nearly at 6,000 signatures and we need 10,000 to get a government response.

Thanks!

[ianr]

Who is "we"?

[yorksgirl]

Think this is an excellent idea. The IQAir filters are the ones they use in Ebola wards, they are the only ones that take the smallest viruses out of the air. Maybe they would do a deal to supply schools? They can come will filters to take out the tiniest particles down to 0.003 microns, they also do gas filters to take out Nitrogen Dioxide.

Even in non pandemic times, would be a small investment to lessen the bug-go-round that happens at the start of every term after kids go back. Would easily repay the layout by saving lost time and NHS costs.

Think all classrooms in London should definitely have them due to air pollution, in any case. They are not cheap but having bought one second hand can testify they make a huge difference, it is quite a shock to be reminded what it's like to breathe clean air.

If they could only get this technology into tubes and trains. Meanwhile, would it be ok to shoot men who stand on the tube excavating the contents of their noses and flicking it all over the place? Or wiping it on the fabric of the seats, as a lovely gentleman was doing on the Jubilee at Stratford. What is the etiquette when you see some of it land on a fellow passenger, are we supposed to tell them or let them walk off with e.g.a giant lump of snot on their shoulder?

[Nigello]

As much as it is disgusting, shooting men for wiping a crow on a seat of a train (because only men act in such a way, of course) is rather an overreaction. Would women be also subject to such a penalty...?! As for the filtration - it is unlikely to take flight, simply due to cost of installation and maintenance. Best to concentrate on ventilation, use of allergen-free cleaning chemicals, more greenery (eg. the excellent mini-forest at Goodrich School) and making sure ill kids and teachers stay away till they're better. Now, if ebola were to take root in British schools, I may change my mind...

Also, there is no such thing as safe. Using such a word again and again suggests to people that there is somehow, somewhere a hazard-free world. Being safer is more realistic, but even that doesn't mean public money should be thrown at every method that claims to be able to achieve such a state.

[James Barber]

I, along with my then East Dulwich ward Councillors, approved ?18,656 of devolved ward funding to help support Goose Green Primary School install such air filters installed pre COVID in January 2018. The Friends of GG also helped fund these.

This funding route could be used across the area and Southwark.

Even without COVID they made lots of sense in reduction in common cold, flu circulating around classes and causes pupil absences.

It seems unlikely the government will change classroom requirements and fund the circa ?2bn needed. Quite possibly the HEPA industry wont have the number of units required etc except over multi years.

Leaving this to local schools likely means those schools whose parents have deeper pockets getting them. In some areass such as Sotuhwark we have other routes to funding e.g. Cleaner, Greener, Safer funding stream (introduced by Lib Dems running the council in 2002).

Petitions to government, however worthy, wont fix this problem for our local children any time soon.

If your child is in a cschool without such air filteration why not ask your local Councillors if they will allocated some of their devolved CSG funding to hel pthe school - checking the school would be willing to have them?

If anyone needs help making this happen - get in touc

[Jellybeanz]

Thanks for your posts of support.

James I will definitely be in touch.

The government has pledged 7,000 air filters for over 300,000 classrooms which is simply ridiculous.

If you read this and are supportive, please please sign the petition and share with friends and especially teachers / school or college staff etc and other parents.

Thanks

[Penguin68]

The government has pledged 7,000 air filters for over 300,000 classrooms which is simply ridiculous.

I suspect that a large number of classrooms will have windows that can be opened - so that the numbers of classrooms that can thus have improved air quality will be rather higher than 7000. And at no energy cost. Of course, the ones that have windows that open over roads which have increased and stationary traffic because of LTNs is a mooter point. Perhaps Southwark could find the money out of their fines to pay for filters in these.

[Jellybeanz]

Thanks for helping this petition reach over 10,000 signatures... has brought the issue of cleaner air into the media spotlight if nothing else.

[redpost]

Please note that these things need regular maintenance.

There will be a pre-filter that needs hoovering every few days, and the HEPA filter will need to be changed regularly and although 'generic' square ones that fit ducting are not that expensive at less than ?50 for a large one, the filter machines often use proprietary filters which can cost a few hundred pounds each.

Also, they only remove particulates. To remove NOx and other gases you need an expensive filter that uses activated carbon which are even more expensive and deplete quickly as they soak up gases.

[Nigello]

Thanks for that, Redpost - people need full information and costings before committing to a (seemingly) no-brainer solution. Public finances are not finite and this must be grasped - spending on X means less spending on Y.