Dear ISB Community,
It is that time of year again when the pollution levels begin rising in Bangkok and we wanted to make you aware of our policies and initiatives in place to help ensure we have the safest environment possible for our student and community.
ISB has eight outdoor sensors spread around campus that are monitoring PM2.5, CO2, Humidity and Temperature and displays a real-time reading and one hour average of the current conditions on campus. This information is displayed on the bottom of the ISB website. We are then able to make real-time decisions in line with our Air Quality guidelines.
Many other monitors display a 2 to 24-hour average at hourly increments. The averages can be misleading as to what the current conditions are. Air Quality can fluctuate dramatically within a short period of time, therefore our real-time data is important for us to be able to make accurate and well-informed decisions for our students.
The monitor is provided by a company called AirGradient and Environment Assured. These companies works extensively with schools in China and Thailand. A number of schools have followed our lead in this and are also working with these providers. On account of the variance of our real-time data and the averages of other monitors, you will see a discrepancy in our data to other schools in some instances. There are also many different websites, apps, and links that provide air quality readings around Bangkok.
We installed these units because we wanted to be sure we have the most accurate reading on our campus and we use it as the official reading for all school activities and guidelines. We also store all the data points so we can monitor for trends, to access increase and decline.
The live display pages show the PM2.5 readings and calculated Heat Index in real time, based on US EPA and NOAA standards. You can access the data here.
We have also purchased an AirVisual Pro desktop unit. We bought this unit so that we can have a comparison to other schools using this same unit. We do not use this reading for making decisions as it is less accurate and does not display real time data. It has limitations on where it can be installed and what data it can provide. It only shows an average and at hourly updates.
ISB community members should refer to this display page for real time information.
We have set up the system to send out email alerts to ISB staff, when the PM2.5 or Heat Index reaches our threshold limits, based on the current policies and guidelines. Our guidelines are based on best practice and are inline with other schools in the region.
