CIHs Uniquely Skilled to Help School Districts Ensure a Healthy Indoor Environment

LANSING, Mich. - Nov. 17, 2014 - PRLog -- In October, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released new guidance to help school districts protect indoor air quality (IAQ) while increasing energy efficiency during renovation projects.  Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades offers opportunities to prevent and control potentially harmful conditions during these types of projects.

“This guidance provides common-sense solutions for improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality in schools across the country,” said Janet McCabe, Acting Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. “By using these guidelines, school districts can cut their energy bills and help ensure that students have a healthy and safe learning environment.”

The EPA reports that about half of the schools in the United States have adopted indoor air quality management plans already, but that there are still approximately 25 million children in close to 60,000 schools who are not benefiting from an IAQ management program.

“It is important that the millions of students and faculty at our nation’s schools have healthy indoor air quality and that it is a key concern during any type of renovation, retrofit or energy efficiency upgrade,” said Tracy Parsons, CIH^®, Administrative Program Manager at the American Board of Industrial Hygiene^®.  “Certified Industrial Hygienists working for school districts or those who offer their services can help to ensure that students, faculty and workers are not being exposed to harmful chemicals, physical agents or microbiological hazards.   CIHs are trained and experienced in many techniques, including exposure assessments, air sampling, biohazards, chemical hazards, risk analysis, and engineering and exposure controls. These and other core skills can be essential in identifying and preventing IAQ problems in our schools.”

To learn more about the American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH^®), Certified Industrial Hygienist^® program or to locate a CIH to perform industrial hygiene services, please visit www.ABIH.org, email abih@ABIH.org or call (517) 321-2638.

About the American Board of Industrial Hygiene

Since 1960, ABIH, a not-for-profit corporation, has been the world's largest, premier organization for certifying professionals in the practice of industrial hygiene. ABIH is responsible for ensuring high-quality certification including education, experience, examination, certification maintenance and ethics enforcement.  Currently, more than 6700 people are certified to use the CIH designation.