Monitoring indoor air quality in French schools and day-care centres. Results from the first phase of a pilot survey

International audience; Indoor air quality surveillance in public premises, especially those hosting vulnerable populations such as children, was introduced in the second French national environment and health action plan and then regulated by the first "Grenelle Environnement" law, on August 3rd, 2009. A national pilot monitoring survey of indoor air quality in 310 French schools and day-care centres was performed in two phases from 2009 to 2011. The results of the first phase show that air quality is overall acceptable in 90% of the establishments with respect to the management values suggested by the French committee for public health. Nonetheless, a few cases required additional diagnoses or corrective measures. Furthermore, air stuffiness (based on CO2 measurements) was found to be very high in 16% of the classrooms. The Mayors and School Principals were informed and provided with means to identify the main sources of pollution and to implement remediation actions.