Make Your Campus a Vape Free Zone

School security often centers around alarm systems, surveillance camera systems, gunshot detectors, and other threat prevention and suppression activities. The past year has seen health-related monitoring and access control technology become ubiquitous in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Vaping has been a concern in recent years; despite in-person interventions, the allure of these e-cigarettes has continued to grow. Administrators and educators have scrambled to quell this trend with some success, but the threat of student well-being is still ever-present. The concern is even more significant with the knowledge that COVID-19 transmits through a particulate spread in the air. 

New vape detector sensor systems give you the tools to root out these activities and develop new strategies to prevent them from occurring again on your Woodlands, TX campus. 

SEE ALSO: Here’s Why You Should Consider a School Gunshot Detection System

The Great Threat

Since the Surgeon General’s report of 1964, it is well known that tobacco smoking and nicotine are extraordinarily harmful tohuman health. Vape devices were initially marketed as a safer alternative to tobacco thatcould help long-time smokers quit the habit. While there is some evidence that vaping can support chronic smokers weaning off smoking, increasingly worrying studies are showing the harmful effects of vaping. 

The Massachusetts General Hospital has studied the effects of vaping and how it contributes to the severity of COVID infections. The research shows that vape users are more likely to have severe cases of the illness. An even more frightening finding is that the vape cloud exhaled by users can aid in propagating and transmitting the virus. 

With just over 5.3 million students (CDC,2020) currently using e-cigarettes and a reported 27.5% of high school students vaping within the last 30 days, the potential threat is great. It is worth considering installing vape detectors on your campus in light of these numbers. 

Real-Time Detection

You cannot always rely on your sense of smell to indicate where vaping occurs. The health issues recently connected to flavored vapes have resulted in many being banned for sale. The result is only a small decline in use and an uptick inodorless refills. In the same way that spotting a feverish person requires more than ‘identifying someone who looks sick,’ finding e-ciguse on your grounds involves technology. 

Vape sensors, which look like smoke detectors, can be mounted where students most often engage in these activities, such as bathrooms and changing rooms. Cameras are, rightly so, prohibited from these spaces, so you need real-time notification. The devices often include gunshot and noise detectors too, helping you identify and stop multiple issues. 

The sensors are triggered when they detect vaping aerosols’ chemical signature. Once activated, you receive an instant alert indicating the room.  Staff and security personnel can be notified and dispatched using your Mass Alert System (MSM).  

Intervention and Prevention

While intervention in the moment can help secure your students and school grounds, prevention is the goal. Each time a sensor goes off, it is logged, allowing you to review metrics on the rate of occurrence, levels detected, and which locations are most often used. Using this data, administrators, health advocates, parents, and educators can develop campaigns and actions to stop the awful trend. 

Let the ASAP Security team help you build a healthy, vape-free environment in your school. Reach out to our team to learn about the latest anti-vaping technology by calling (877) 418-ASAP, filling out our contact form, or chatting with us below.