Radon In Schools 2017 Report Anne-Marie Nicol, PhD Associate Professor Faculty of Health Sciences Simon Fraser University Sandy Shergill, BA Faculty of Health Sciences Simon Fraser University www.sfu.ca/radon www.carexcanada.ca 2018-04-24
What is CAREX? CAREX EX POSURE CAR CINOGEN • Fully funded by Canadian Partnership Against Cancer since 2008 • A Simon Fraser University based research project 2
What is CAREX? • Goal: to inform efforts to reduce Canadians’ exposures to known and suspected carcinogens. • Goal: to help lower Canadians’ exposures to known and suspected carcinogens in workplaces and communities. • Radon is identified as the highest priority indoor air exposure for cancer prevention efforts Excess of approximately 23,000 cancer cases per million people § exposed over a lifetime 3
CAREX Indoor Air Exposure Assessment 4
Project Aims Report available at: https://www.carexcanada.ca/en/announcements/radon_in_schools/ • To update CAREX Canada’s 2016 scan of radon testing initiatives in schools • To document radon testing frequency in Canadian schools • To identify barriers to testing for radon in regions of low testing • To navigate stakeholders responsible in each province for radon information and radon safety within publicly-funded school buildings 5
Population • Children à spending 25-30% of their waking time in schools • America has certain state policies for mandatory radon testing in schools “At least 1 out of every 5 school classrooms have above § actionable levels of radon” (US EPA, 2017) • What is the current policy landscape for radon testing in Canadian schools? All building types, all publicly-funded including both English and § Francophone facilities 6
Methodology • Gatekeepers to information: utilizing a top-down approach Leading to the identification of 3 different levels of contacts § • Additional consultation of any governmental publicly accessible information (Prince Edward Island & Yukon) • Letters were sent to all identified contacts with 5 key open-ended survey questions Focused on: testing, remediation, follow-up, engagement, $ § • Follow-up phone calls were also offered for any participants 7
Key Findings • Response rate • Large variation in testing across provinces • Many schools that were not testing indicated this was because of a lack of policy or an assumed low risk of exposure • Governmental vs. grassroots initiatives • Blame-shifting paradigm (communication between agencies) • Stilts may reduce the need for radon testing in some provinces (Nunavut & Northwest Territories) • Information emerged on policies and steps taken against radon in new schools builds 8
Radon In Schools Data - 2016 9
Radon In Schools Data - 2017 WHERE HAVE SCHOOLS BEEN TESTED FOR RADON IN CANADA? 100% 2%† NA† YK NT NU 0%* NL 8%* 3%* 8%* 57% BC 100% AB 100% PE 18% SK MB ON QC NB NS 100% 100% % of schools that have tested for radon % of schools reporting testing data: This map is based on information collected in 2017 for publicly funded schools in Canada 0-33% *Some schools in these provinces have expressed interest or developed plans to test for radon in the future 34-66% but are not included in this total. Please see supplemental table for more information. 67-100% †All school buildings in Nunavut and some in the Northwest Territories are constructed above ground on piles and may not require radon testing. 10
Radon In Schools Data Table - 2017 Radon testing in Canadian schools by province* PROPORTION OF # SCHOOLS REPORTING # SCHOOLS IN PROVINCE SCHOOLS TESTED PROVINCE IN PROVINCE HAVE TESTED HAVE NOT TESTED TESTING STATUS UNKNOWN BC 1566 133 283 1150 8% (134 schools have plans for, or are interested in, future testing) AB 2388 61 198 2129 3% (95 schools have plans for, or are interested in, future testing) SK 756 756 0 0 100% MB 940 76 33 831 8% (18 schools have plans for, or are interested in, future testing) ON 4891 854 1230 2807 18% 3600 2065 1535 0 QC 57% NB 318 318 0 0 100% NS 379 379 0 0 100% PE 62 62 0 0 100% 263 0 257 6 NL 0% (257 schools have plans for, or are interested in, future testing) YK 32 32 0 0 100% NU 43 0 43 0 NA† NT 49 1 0 48 2%† *This table is based on information collected in 2017 for publicly funded schools in Canada. †All school buildings in Nunavut and some in the Northwest Territories are constructed above ground on piles and may not require radon testing. 11
Impact • Media interests SFU Press Release – “Issues & Experts: Report finds school radon testing varies across § Canada ” (Nov 30 th ) CTV Winnipeg (Nov 30 th ) § City TV Toronto (Dec 1 st ) § Breakfast Television Vancouver (Dec 4 th ) § Tweets; NCCEH, CARST, Radon Environmental, Airthings, City News Toronto, The § Langara Voice, SFU News • Inquiries from schools boards, research organizations and associations 12
Future Steps • Publishing our current report and findings to archive a baseline of testing levels across Canada • Working to keep the data up to date with yearly or bi-yearly follow- ups • Enable transparency of testing data collected to allow other low- testing provinces to learn from high-testing provinces programs and initiatives options 13
Questions & Contact Anne-Marie Nicol: anicol@sfu.ca Sandy Shergill::sshergill@carexcanada.ca 14
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