Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
ing increasingly common. The policy focuses on educating building occu-
pants and making visitors aware of its purpose and necessity. Enforcing the
“no scents” policy is the responsibility of building staff. Citizen initiatives
directed to limiting the use of lawn pesticides are becoming more common
in the U.S., with somewhat spotty success. Antipesticide initiatives are
increasingly being directed at school corporations. The citizen initiative that
is achieving some level of success in school corporations is the use of inte-
grated pest management (IPM) to control cockroaches and other insects in
buildings. These IPM initiatives have the full support of USEPA and, in many
cases, state environmental and public health agencies.
In response to citizen initiatives on pesticide use in schools, the U.S. Senate
passed an amendment to the Affordable Education Act of 1999 which, if passed
by the House of Representatives as well, would require that schools that receive
federal funding notify parents at least 48 hours before using pesticides. School
districts would also have to supply USEPA with a list of pesticides they use
which are known carcinogens, developmental or reproductive toxins, or neu-
rotoxins. Whether or not this amendment will become law is not known at the
time of this writing. However, it illustrates the power of citizen initiatives.
Citizens who characterize themselves or their children as having envi-
ronmental/ecological illness are increasingly demanding that employers and
school corporations provide a variety of accommodations. Most notably
these include limiting such activities as painting or floor waxing (during
work/school hours), use of scented soaps in lavatories, etc.
G. Public information and education programs
Public information/education programs are low-cost tools used by USEPA
and other agencies to provide individual Americans, building owners/man-
agers, school officials, etc., with basic information on specific indoor envi-
ronment concerns. In the public information arena, USEPA has developed
and distributed small, simple-to-read brochures on asbestos, radon, and lead;
established dedicated hotlines on each of these issues; and established clear-
inghouses for both lead and IAQ/IE.
The USEPA has developed and distributed major guidance documents
for in-house facilities personnel to assist them in preventing, diagnosing,
and mitigating IAQ/IE problems in nonresidential buildings. USEPA's
Build-
ing Air Quality Manual
has been widely distributed and used. In an initiative
to improve IAQ in schools, USEPA developed its
program,
which provided a kit for school facilities managers to better manage air
quality in schools and assist them in solving IAQ problems. (See
www.epa.gov
for information on obtaining these documents.) These docu-
ments are of excellent quality and are used by building facilities personnel
as well as professionals in the field. The Illinois Department of Public Health
has also developed and distributed documents on IPM.
USEPA maintains public information and education programs in 10
federal regions. Each region dedicates one or more staff who are responsible
Tools for Schools
