Coralie Laplante
Press
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Preschool, primary, secondary, as well as vocational training and adult education establishments will benefit from the devices “by the end of December 2021,” promises Quebec.
The companies Honeywell, Nova Biomatique, Assek Technologie and Airthings will be responsible for producing the CO readers2. The call for tenders was launched on July 16. Quebec will have to spend $ 76.4 million to get its hands on the devices. So each drive comes in at the price of about $ 850.
“The installation of CO readers2 continuously in classrooms will promote better ventilation management to ensure good air quality, ”said Ali Bahloul in a press release, specialist in industrial ventilation and indoor air quality, associate professor and researcher in prevention of chemical, biological, mechanical and physical risks at the Robert-Sauvé Research Institute in Occupational Health and Safety.
Mr. Bahloul is an independent expert who works in collaboration with the Ministry of Education on this file. “These readers will also make it possible to monitor the operation of the ventilation, to identify the classrooms where the ventilation is deficient and to make corrections in the medium and long term”, he continues, in the same document.
The expert recalls that he supports the conclusions of a report on air quality in schools, produced in January 2021 by a group of experts. The specialists indicated that the installation of mobile air purifiers in the classrooms was not recommended.
Delay in the process
Initially, the “Plan pour la rentrée 2021” of the Quebec government provided that readers of CO2 be installed in the classrooms of the province for the start of the school year.
In August, the Ministry of Education indicated instead that the devices will be installed “during the school year”.
“It’s a major process. We are talking about 90,000 sensors in 4,000 premises. We wanted to do it quickly, but do well. In 90% of cases, the ventilation is already adequate, ”had then justified the Associate Deputy Minister at the Ministry of Education, Marc Sirois.
The ministry’s objective is that a concentration of 1000 parts per million (ppm) of CO2 is present in the classrooms.
The air quality in schools in the province has been of concern to the government since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, since several outbreaks of the virus have been identified in schools.
With Henri Ouellette-Vézina, Press
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