SD73 says air quality not a factor after two students fainted in Valleyview Secondary wood shop

Sep 24, 2018 | 4:25 PM

KAMLOOPS — An investigation by the Kamloops-Thompson School District (SD73) into air quality in the wood shop at Valleyview Secondary School has concluded air quality levels are within acceptable parameters.

The probe follows an incident the morning of Sept. 18 when two students felt faint in the wood shop and passed out.

“They were receiving instruction/demonstations from their teacher. They were all standing around, observing the demonstration because the first couple of weeks they spend all their time learning about the equipment, doing demonstrations,” says Melissa McGarry, manager of Health and Safety.

“They don’t really get hands on yet. So, there’s not a lot going on the first little bit, except for safety. So, (after they passed out) they evacuated the shop after the students felt faint. They received medical attention right away and called myself and we started an investigation after the shop was evacuated.”

She says that investigation included air sampling, including air sampling for carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and temperature relative humidity.

“And we came to the conclusion that everything is within its parameters. Everything came back below acceptable levels for air quality.”

McGarry says with no products or chemicals found, they turned their investigation towards the students and the people who were in the space.

“We found there seemed to be a common physiological factor that came into play. We spoke to teachers, we spoke to their parents, we talked to the staff and students and obviously we can’t divulge too much into the student aspect of our investigation for privacy.”

She confirms another student during the last school year also passed out in the wood shop and an investigation attributed that to the heat.

“Last May/June, we had some really high temperatures outside so it was very noticeable. You had outdoor air temperatures and then you also had the heat coming in. So, going through that investigation we figured it was a temperature issue.”

McGarry says the quick investigation shows SD73 takes cases like these “very seriously.”