Blog
May 18 2022

Protecting Teachers and Students – Optimizing Ventilation in Older Schools / Buildings: Lessons from Australia

A presentation made as part of the OCC-COVID Webinar Series: Cleaning the Air and Committing to C.A.R.E.

Date: June 3, 2022
Presenter: Dr. Jorma (Jay) Mueller

How a Brisbane Independent School prevented outbreaks of COVID-19, despite Omicron wave

In line with an interdisciplinary approach where medical, occupational hygiene and engineering merge using science and physics.

There has never been a more important time to improve indoor air quality using a range of techniques to guide us in these uncertain times especially with the lessening of COVID-19 restrictions. Along with all barriers to protect against COVID-19, understanding ventilation airflow dynamics is especially important. How can we optimize ventilation in older buildings with poor or nonexistent mechanical ventilation? How can we navigate airflow to inform on the proper selection and placement of air purifiers for example? Dr. Mueller will share his story about how he was able to engage with other fathers and the principal of his son's school to make the classroom safe for teachers and children. A small primary school in Brisbane's west has done what many others have been unable to achieve during COVID-19's Omicron wave in Queensland: remain outbreak-free.

This session focuses on:

  1. How to work with older buildings, due to the age, without the luxury of proper mechanical ventilation and how to change airflow dynamics to optimize flow through ventilation.
  2. How to work with natural ventilation and circulate fresh air through ceiling louvres using ceiling fans in reverse direction.
  3. How to identify zones where there is poor air flow / and or turbulence when deciding where to position air purifiers.
  4. How to incorporate science / fluid dynamics into ventilation.
  5. Thinking outside the box to incorporate an interdisciplinary approach.
  6. Use smoke generators and observation to inform and create an airflow map.
  7. The importance of real time monitoring of CO2 and the importance of avoiding / ventilating out spikes.
  8. Last but not least the importance in the social interface to communicate the risk with simple explanation.