Teachers at Charleston Academy have made dozens of complaints that the air leaves them with sore eyes, throats and noses and some fear the school's heating and ventilation systems may be releasing an airborne infection into the atmosphere.

One union official even claimed conditions were right at the 860-pupil school for an outbreak of the deadly Legionnaires Disease and condemned Highland Council for taking so long to deal with the problem.

Jim Docherty, deputy general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers Association (SSTA), said members were reporting what would colloquially be called "a sick building". For several years, staff have complained that the dry air and dust in the 30-year-old building caused them health problems and called for air humidifiers to be installed in classrooms and more cleaners to control the level of dust in classrooms.

"There have been cases where outbreaks of Legionnaires Disease have been connected to buildings where there have been similar complaints," he said. "The local authority has a duty to provide healthy and safe working conditions and these, quite clearly, are not.

"It has gone from two or three people reporting a problem a few years ago to the point now that so many are complaining that there must be something wrong.

"Bearing in mind that, every year, cases of Legionnaires pop up, this situation needs to be dealt with not at Highland pace but immediately. Given that there were quite clear warnings three or four years ago, the fact that a health and safety report was only commissioned in October does not inspire confidence in Highland Council's ability to deal with this."

Andrew Stewart, Highland secretary of the Educational Institute of Scotland, has also spoken to the council about Charleston Academy several times.

"There has been a long-standing problem with the school's ventilation or heating system and members have reported instances of discomfort, sore head and irritated eyes and throats," he said.

"A couple of people have been signed off with similar symptoms but we are not certain if there is a direct link but we are also aware of members who have been suffering from this without taking any time off."

Mr Stewart raised the issue with the council again in October, prompting the council's health and safety inspectors to return to the school. "They have been looking at getting humidifiers into classrooms and whether more cleaning is needed to control dust but these are more short-term measures," he said. "There seems to be several things combining to make Charleston an unhealthy place to work."

Charleston Academy — where teachers have been complaining of irritation to eyes and skin. Bobby Nelson

A spokesman for the council acknowledged health and safety staff were looking to identify a longer-term solution and take shorter-term action to counter difficulties staff were facing.

"The council knows something is wrong and we are trying to find out what it is," he said. "It is a problem that has been apparent for a while and that Health and Safety have been actively investigating for some time.

"We are aware of a problem. People do complain of irritation to their skin, eyes and throat and about the dryness of the air."

Rector Calum MacSween stressed that he had not heard complaints about pupils suffering from the same symptoms as teachers but agreed that the problem had been recognised years ago.

"Pupils are able to move around the school but staff are stuck in the same classrooms all the time and those in the main building are the ones who see a difficulty," he said.

NHS Highland said it had had no involvement with any investigation into problems at Charleston.

g.burke@inverness-courier.co.uk

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