By Lucy Ashton
Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton today challenged First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to drop her “baffling adventures in woodwork” and to recognise the value and need of ventilation devices in every classroom, after unveiling that covid rates in Edinburgh schools have quadrupled.
Mr Cole-Hamilton revealed that in the four weeks between January 1st and February 4th 2022, there have been 6,709 Covid cases in Edinburgh’s schools. That is nearly as many cases as the 7,382 cases recorded in the four months between August 16th and December 31st 2021.
Last week Scottish Liberal Democrats revealed a leaked report commissioned by Edinburgh City Council which showed all but two schools surveyed in detail failed CO2 threshold tests amid concern about the ventilation in classrooms, while also highlighting that the Education Secretary announced the government is going to spend £300,000 chopping the bottom off doors on 2000 classrooms where airflow is poor.
Mr Cole-Hamilton, left, said: “It is clear we are preparing for a life beyond face masks in our schools, on one hand, that is very welcome for both well-being and school cohesion.
“However, teaching unions have expressed some anxieties, after all, air quality in Scottish classrooms is still a cause of significant concern.
“We learned this week that in Edinburgh’s schools alone, Covid infection rate has quadrupled since Christmas. Schools are still on the frontline of this pandemic.
“Teaching unions and health and safety bodies believe that fitting HEPA air filter units in every classroom could reduce infection and CO2 levels.
“Instead of the First Minister’s baffling adventures in woodwork, I ask her to recognise that the installation of air cleaning in every classroom will drive down infection and boost attainment.”
Some of these schools with low CO2 levels and poor ventilation must surely be in new schools built under the PFI initiative.
If so is there a case for a claim to be made against the PFI concessionaire builders for schools built with inadequate air changes. Air change requirements, depending on the class of space are laid down in building standards. Competent designer are, or should be absolutely aware of these standards.There is therefore a big question to be asked about this.
Moreover, in relation to the popularly cast vision of chopping the bottoms off doors it is difficult to see how this could happen. Aside of the fact that doors can be of quite complicated construction and comprising of differing materials, doors provide not just closure to people and persons but also fire and smoke protection.
The thought of smoke or air to fuel a fire billowing or more accurately being sucked through a gap in a door is a serious consideration. The Grenfell disaster after all was caused through lack of fire stop in a flat window to allow fire to be drawn through a small gap and into the cavity between the cladding and the wall giving rise to a devastating chimney effect fuelled fire.
Or what of the local tragedy of Cameron House where a fire in a cupboard fed into gaps in the wall with attendant devastating chimney effect fed fire being spread through the building.
It is therefore no exaggeration to say that there are very sound reasons not to have gaps in doors, top or bottom or side even to provide ventilation. Maybe a politician should be asking the bigger question about the building standards of our schools, and maybe some other buildings too, because all the Edinburgh schools bar two failing CO2 tests is and should be concerning.
Locally, and given the Edinburgh survey, and the fact that like Edinburgh many of our schools are new, maybe our local administration would like to give a statement on the ventilation status of West Dunbartonshire schools