Urban nurseries are being sought by hygiene experts phs Group in a competition to win air purifiers to help its children breathe cleaner air.
phs, in collaboration with air purifier manufacturer Fellowes, is offering the winning three nurseries two cutting-edge air purifiers installed within the premises for an entire year.
The AERAMAX PROFESSIONAL air purifiers are designed to improve indoor air quality and clean the air free from contaminants and odours. Tests show that the filtration units remove 99.9% of harmful germs, allergens and particulates.
This means children will be breathing cleaner air – combating their exposure to indoor air pollution as well as germs and odours.
Nominations for the air purifier competition must be made by Friday, March 15, by nurseries, staff, parents or locals wanting to support their chosen nursery via the phs competition website.
The competition follows a study which found indoor air pollution was significantly higher inside classrooms, putting children at risk of lifelong health problems.
It reported that children, who are more vulnerable to airborne pollutants than adults, are breathing in fine particle pollution at levels higher than WHO guidelines.
The Mayor of London has since said that young, vulnerable children face a daily threat to their health from the toxic air they breathe and launched a fund to combat children’s exposure to air pollution and is trialling air filtration systems at five nurseries.
A new survey has also revealed that nine out of 10 leading health professionals said air pollution was harming children in their areas and the public needed to be better informed about the issue.
Brett Fleming-Jones, Head of Marketing, of phs, said: “We spend 90% of our time indoors and around nine hours every day sharing spaces with others.
When we are indoors, we are breathing in air which is five times more polluted than outdoor air. In urban areas, the concentration of pollution indoors is raising significant cause for concern particularly for children who are innocently breathing in polluted air every day.
“We know we have a product which removes 99.9% of contaminants from the air and we want to test this by installing air purifiers into three nurseries and monitoring their air quality.
We believe it can make a real difference by creating an environment where children are breathing cleaner air – protecting them from the risks of pollution, boosting concentration and reducing their exposure to allergens, pollen and germs such as colds and flu.
We are looking forward to the feedback we receive from nursery staff along with the parents whose children spend time within these nurseries.”
Nominations for the competition can be placed by any nursery in an urban location as well as families and local organisations. The winning nurseries will be picked at random with two AERAMAX PROFESSIONAL units installed with before and after air-quality tests by phs and Fellowes.
With a display unit, nursery staff and parents will be able to view particle levels within the building and review an improvement in air quality.
Astley Shields, Business Development Manager, of Fellowes, said: “This is an exciting project which will bring real benefits to the winners of this competition. Unfortunately, air pollution and contaminants are all around us in the air we breathe.
“It’s something we don’t like to think about but once you’ve seen the results of air quality tests, it’s something you can’t forget. We’re hoping that through this competition we can demonstrate an effective and cost-efficient solution to helping the next generation breathe air which is cleaner and healthier.”
You can enter the competition by:
Closing date for nominations is Friday 15 March 2019. Terms and conditions apply.
For more information on phs Group, www.phs.co.uk or follow @phsGroup on Twitter and phs Group on LinkedIn.