Enviromental health factors in kindergartens

Nakon obiteljskog doma, dječji vrtići su najvaţnije mjesto u kojem borave djeca predškolske dobi. U predškolskim ustanovama djeca u prosjeku provedu od 5 do 10 sati na dan u vrijeme intenzivnog psihičkog i fizičkog rasta i razvoja. Djeca pred sobom imaju više godina ţivota i samim time više vremena za razvoj kroničnih bolesti kojima za početak simptomatologije treba i više desetljeća, a kojima je okidač rana izloţenost nekoj štetnoj tvari ili kontinuirana, a moţda čak i manja razina izloţenosti. Tijekom boravka u dječjem vrtiću djeca su izloţena čitavom nizu čimbenika koji mogu predstavljati opasnost po zdravlje kao što su loša kvaliteta zraka, opasni graĎevinski materijali i loša gradnja, zračenja, buka, mikroklimatski uvjeti – temperatura, relativna vlaţnost, strujanje zraka, izloţenost kemijskim i biološkim štetnostima. Veliki broj djece u odgojnim skupinama te neadekvatna veličina sobe dnevnog boravka djece u odnosu na broj djece doprinosi povećanoj izloţenosti prisutnim štetnostima. Prevencija štetnog utjecaja okolišnih čimbenika koji mogu negativno utjecati na zdravlje djece najučinkovitija je kada su prepoznati izvori i učinci djelovanja jednog ili više čimbenika rizika. Zakonska regulativa propisuje poseban nadzor nad zdravstveno ekološkim čimbenicima u dječjim vrtićima, s ciljem sprječavanja nastanka bolesti i ozljeda te omogućavanju zdravstveno socijalnog blagostanja.Outside the family home, kindergarten is the most important place where children stay. The average amount of time children spend in preschool institutions is 5 to 10 hours a day at this time of intense mental and physical growth and development. Children of young age have many years ahead of them and therefore much more time to develop chronical diseases some of which take decades to start showing symptoms and whose trigger could be exposure to some harmful substances at an early age or even exposure to lower levels of such substances, but for a longer and continuous period of time. During theri stay in the kindergarten children are exposed to a variety of factors that may pose a health hazard such as poor air quality, some potentialy hazardous building materials and poor construction quality, radiation, noise, micro climate conditions – temperature, relative humidity, airflow, exposure to chemical and biological hazards. Increased overall number of children preschool classes and inadequate size of the dayroom compared to the number of children contribute to the greater exposure to the possible dangers. To prevent the damaging influence of environmental factors that could pose a threat to children's health means to aknowledge the source and effects of one or more factors of risk. The statutory regulation prescribes special supervision of health and ecological factors in preschool institutions in order to prevent the occurence of illness and injuries and thus facilitate health welfare