How the Humble Checklist Can Improve School Indoor Air Quality
Written by Christine G. Crocker, Executive Director, Maine Indoor Air Quality Council, Augusta, ME and Ellen Tohn, Principal, Tohn Environmental Strategies, Wayland, MA
We all use checklists. Shopping lists, to-do lists, wish lists—checklists are a simple tool used every day to help us both organize and remember important items and tasks.
Checklists are being used in so many professions from airline pilots to psychotherapists that we tend to overlook their value in helping us do a better job, no matter what that job entails. In hospital operating rooms around the country checklists are now helping doctors reduce patient mortality in crisis events (https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/press-releases/checklists-in-operating-rooms-improve-performance-during-crises/) and cut the length of patient hospitalizations in half. (https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/health-fitness/the-checklist-manifesto/) School facilities directors, architects, engineers, contractors and others who bear the responsibility to create healthy school environments, can all benefit from the use of the humble checklist to protect and improve school indoor air quality.
How?
In October 2014, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency published comprehensive guidance — Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades. This guidance presents strategies to protect and improve indoor air quality when undertaking a school renovation or energy upgrade. The document is available for free download from EPA’s website.
The best part about the comprehensive EPA guidance however, is not its 130 pages of valuable content and detailed specifications. The real value lies in a very simple, one-page Excel workbook that allows users to create customized project checklists in just 5 minutes.
Called the Interactive Air Quality Planner, the one-page macro-enabled Excel file allows users to select their project type, such as HVAC, lighting upgrades, painting etc., to create a comprehensive checklist of actions to protect air quality that are specific to their project scope. The customized checklists created by users are color coded to show the minimum action (something that should always be done for that type of project), and any expanded action (additional steps to improve indoor air quality). Users can even create a tab of comprehensive resources that both link to the full Energy Savings Plus Health Guidelines, or provide specific references to external standards, such as those published by ASHRAE, SMACNA and others.
Why is this so important? Because studies show that the quality of the school indoor environment impacts student health, academic performance and in some instances, teacher attendance. Plus, a comprehensive approach to facility renovations and energy upgrades that considers the benefits of energy efficiency improvements, as well as the potential for improving the indoor environment, can:
- Save districts money by reducing operating expenses
- Improve student performance
- Increase staff productivity and reduce staff absences
- Improve the health of those working in the building
Does using a checklist really work?
The Maine Indoor Air Quality Council recently completed a two-and-a-half-year project for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to pilot test the Interactive Air Quality Planner in school districts in Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts. Eight school districts used the Interactive Air Quality Planner in conjunction with their renovation projects and provided their feedback. What the Council discovered:
The Interactive Air Quality Planner is Extremely Easy to Use
100% of project participants found it easy to find, download, save, and use the Planner to create customized checklists specific to their projects.
“This is awesome. I can generate a quality, professional-looking checklist in 60 seconds or less.” –Alyce Swan, Facilities Director, Kennebunk Schools
The Checklists Helped Users Minimize Mistakes
100% of project participants felt the checklists generated by the Planner were a valuable summary of the myriad tasks that protect indoor air quality during their school’s renovation. The checklists allowed users to double-check their practices and procedures and minimized the likelihood of critical protections getting missed.
“Checklists are an important safeguard for A/E professionals, and the cost savings of avoiding rework or repair is significant—especially for indoor air quality issues. Our team successfully used the Interactive Air Quality Planner to double-check our activity on multiple recent public school projects.” -Michael Johanning, AIA, WBRC Architects-Engineers, Portland, ME
The Interactive Air Quality Planner Identified Things Users Hadn’t Previously Considered During Project Planning
Using the Planner, 100% of the Council’s project participants identified processes, procedures, and specific actions that were added to the specifications and/or scope of their renovations.
100% of Users Would Use the Planner Again
All project participants envisioned at least one scenario where they would use the Planner again.
“I am absolutely committed to using this for every project.” Keith Rose, Five Towns CSD, Camden, Maine.
Schools Can Use the Planner in Variety of Ways:
Alyce Swan, Facilities Director for the Kennebunk School System, brainstormed numerous ways her district could use the Planner:
- Planning while developing projects.
- Communications to the facilities committee, parent community, and others.
- Talking points when engaging in direct discussions with contractors.
- Project documentation packages provide to teachers, superintendents, and lawyers.
- On site checklist on a clip board for reference during site visits.
- To underscore reasons why you ask contractors specific questions.
- Pre-requisite for contractors to define their work scope.
- Tool to get everyone thinking about their actions – especially actions that could impact other people in the building (such as containments).
- Help staff understand IAQ problems and available preventive measures.
- Shared protocol throughout the project for all those involved.
- To save time – don’t have to remember what to do or chase people to do it. Checklist format makes it easy to accomplish all necessary tasks
Conclusion:
We are all busy in our day to day jobs, so it’s hard to imagine adding another step or practice to our work. But remember the operating room lesson; checklists help to avoid mistakes. EPA’s IAQ Planner is one such tool. Take the 5 minutes to run the checklist and confirm that your next school project will protect student and teacher health and avoid indoor air quality issues.
“At first I was very skeptical that using the IAQ Planner would be in any way beneficial to my projects. Like many facilities directors, I’m really busy. Why would I need another thing to do? I’ve been really surprised. It literally takes one minute to do, and gives me a practical checklist of everything I need to consider. I can use the checklists in so many ways: from communications with administration and my school community, to working with contractors to make sure they’re on the same page. I’ve already run two checklists for 2018-19 projects and saved them in my project files. Plus, I found things I hadn’t considered before–6 months prior to project start! My projects will now have a better chance of success.”
–Bill Hansen, Windham-Raymond Schools, Maine.
Here’s How You Can Access and Use the Planner in Your Next Project
Software Requirements: Before you download and save the Interactive Air Quality Planner for Schools, you MUST have Microsoft Excel on your computer system. The Planner will not work with Open Office or Google Spreadsheets.
Hardware Requirements: As long as you have Microsoft Excel on your computer system, it does not matter what platform you are using (PC or Macintosh).
Downloading and Accessing the Planner:
Access: Go to https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/basic-steps-using-energy-savings-plus-health-guidelines
Download: Click on the Download link for the Energy Savings Plus Health Checklist Generator. This will load the Checklist Generator (a.k.a. The Interactive Air Quality Planner for Schools) as an Excel file onto your computer system. Your computer system may require you to accept or allow the download process.
Enable: Most computer systems require you to directly enable editing and enable the macros associated with the Planner/Checklist Generator. You will need to enable both features in order to access the full capacity of the Planner/Checklist Generator.
Save: Before using the Planner, save it to your computer for use as a template to create and save individual checklists for your specific project(s).
Using the Planner to Evaluate Your Project for Healthy Indoor Air Quality
- Open: Open the Interactive Air Quality Planner for Schools (the Checklist Generator you downloaded and saved.)
- Use: Select the types of energy efficiency or building upgrade activities specific to your project(s) by clicking on one or more of the renovation/energy upgrade activities
TIP! It is recommended that you minimize the number of building upgrade activities you select prior to generating your checklist. Clicking on numerous upgrade activities may create a lengthy checklist of action items, without any reference to which upgrade activity each checklist item relates to. Consider selecting each individual type of activity one at a time, then create and save the resulting checklist for your use and reference.
- Choose whether or not to include complete language of assessment protocols and recommended actions in your checklist. Before generating your checklist, you have the option of including complete language from the companion resource guidance: Energy Savings Plus Health Guidelines for Schools. This is a great way to understand your checklist results in the context of this comprehensive resource piece, and can be an excellent teaching tool as you work to promote your project to your school district decision makers. However, the complete language can create lengthy checklists that may be difficult to use when evaluating your building or project. Consider creating and saving various types of checklists with and without the full protocols language for each aspect of your project.
- Generate Your Checklist! Simply click on the Generate Your Checklist option at the bottom of the Planner. It will take about one minute (or less) to generate your checklist output. You can customize each report by identifying the school name/building, location, and date. Your checklist can now be printed or saved to your computer.
TIP! If you try to modify the inputs from your first report, you will experience slow performance when generating a second checklist. When creating more than one checklist, it is recommended that you close the file and reopen your original Interactive Air Quality Planner for Schools to resolve this issue.
- Potential Difficulties when Printing Your Reports: Refer to the Help tab in the Planner if you experience difficulty with printer selection when trying to print your personalized reports.
