EPA Excellence Award
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The Health & Safety Training and Information Service has been honored on a national level by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency for its work on improving indoor air quality in Nassau County school districts.The Nassau BOCES' Health & Safety Training and Information Service was one of the first groups in the United States to become involved with the EPA IAQ-Tools for Schools program. This program is a voluntary, low cost, proactive, approach that encourages school districts to use common sense when addressing indoor air quality issues. It supports a preventive maintenance focus that reviews HVAC systems and elicits the involvement of representative building-level management teams. Random indoor air quality testing, which is both costly and rarely provides helpful information, is discouraged.
Nassau BOCES recruited the first two school districts in the nation (Baldwin and Freeport) to participate in the program. As a result of the participation and efforts in these two school districts, federal money became available for the EPA to implement Tools for Schools nationwide. Nassau BOCES provides assistance and on-going support for school districts interested in establishing the Tools for Schools program. Further information on the IAQ-Tools for Schools program is available by contacting the Health & Safety Training and Information Service or by going to the EPA website at