Policies and Guidelines

Environment: Fragrances and Chemicals

The UBC School of Nursing is housed in a controlled air facility. Individuals with hypersensitivity to aromatic fragrances and chemical environmental stimuli experience a wide range of symptoms, including fatigue, migraines, rashes, difficulty breathing, and dizziness. The National Academy of Sciences (US) estimates that approximately 15% of the population experience "increased allergic sensitivity" to aromatic or scented products. By invoking voluntary guidelines asking faculty, staff, students and visitors to refrain from scented or aromatic products, and by requesting that campus maintenance services attempt to use the least toxic cleaning products and paints that are available, these guidelines help ensure that the School of Nursing is accessible to all people, including those with sensitivities.

Personal Products
The School of Nursing requests that all members of the School community strive to avoid using scented or aromatic personal products (fragrances, body products, air fresheners, etc.). By their very nature, scented products are shared rather than entirely personal.

Maintenance Products:
The School of Nursing requests that reasonable efforts be made to use the least toxic paint and cleaning products that are commercially available for maintenance of the School facilities and that techniques are implemented to minimize the emission of odorous substances (e.g., liquid rather than spray form of products). Where toxic products such as paint are necessary, it is requested that all reasonable efforts be made to provide advance notice so that faculty, staff and students can avoid affected parts of the School during the most toxic periods.

Approved July 2002, Faculty Caucus, UBC School of Nursing