Blackheath public school’s Parents and Citizens Association has emerged as the leading voice calling for unflued gas heaters to be banned in NSW schools.
Its research into the health risks of the heaters led council to write to the Department of Education (DET) in November demanding their immediate replacement with safer types in all Blue Mountains schools.
NSW education minister John Della Bosca indicated on January 21, 2008 that the department intended to continue using the heaters at the school, prompting P&C president Charlotte Smith to tell the Gazette the campaign will be taken to a new level.
“Until people start fighting, they (DET) can’t be bothered doing anything,” Ms Smith said.
“We don’t want to be a problem group - we are highlighting an important health issue, particularly for our region’s schools, but we keep getting fobbed off. The school is right behind this, 120 parents signed our petition, we have support from parents of other public schools and all of them are voters.
“We want the politicians to listen and we intend to deliver our message to national radio and television programs.”
Ms Smith said the P&C wants a two-year trial of either flued or hydroponic heaters at the school, but the DET insists the school must find its own money for that.
The NSW Education Minister’s January 21 letter to the P&C indicates work could be done to install fixed ventilation works “to ensure adequate ventilation and thermal comfort can be achieved” when the unflued heaters are in use.
Another letter, from Member for Blue Mountains Phil Koperberg, applaudes the P&C’s dedication, but says a DET investigation into heating options for NSW schools must be completed before he will speak with the Education Minister about the issue.
Parent and Blackheath public school P&C member Richard Kalina said the DET “makes policy to protect policy”.
“These (unflued) heaters are banned in England, Europe and America and at the end of the day this is affecting the health of our children,” Mr Kalina said.
“We are furious — it’s a failure of duty of care by the DET.”
Ms Smith said a Statewide investigation of heating options is “a way of looking like you are doing something when you’re not”.
“Wouldn’t it be more sensible for the DET to specifically address heating needs for cold climate schools as a priority?
“It’s so cold here that the heaters must be used from 7 am until 3 pm every day in the colder months.
“Three other schools Blackheath parents send their children to have hydroponic heaters, but if you send your kids to a public school you have to forsake their health.”
The P&C points to international studies, including some by the CSIRO, that prove unflued gas heaters release toxic gases which can affect children’s respiratory health.
One CSIRO study shows “low nox” unflued gas heaters — the type installed at the school in 1992 — still had nitrogen dioxide emissions about three times above the lower limit set by the World Health Organisation and releases relatively high levels of formaldehyde.
The DET has claimed it liaised with NSW Health whenever specific issues have been raised to ensure the unflued heaters are compliant with air quality guidelines.
But a press release from NSW Health on unflued gas heaters warns of “the harmful effects of unflued gas heaters on children’s asthma.”
The release quotes Senior Environmental Health Policy Officer Dr Vicky Sheppeard advising “research on children exposed to unflued gas heating shows an increased rate of coughs, colds and asthma symptoms” and can even cause “new asthma in children”.
Figures from Sydney West Area Health Service show there is a 40 per cent greater incidence of asthma in the Blue Mountains compared to the State average.
The Gazette also located an EnHealth brochure, partly developed using NSW Health data, advising people, particularly children, to minimise the length of time they use unflued gas heaters.
“The school is required by the DET to open windows to release the gas, but this can’t be done in some classrooms,” Mr Kalina said.
“Opening windows or installing extra ventilation lets cold air back in and means the unflued gas heaters must be used at full blast just to keep the rooms warm.
“No classrooms even have insulation, it’s a joke.”