Vaping Detection
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Understanding the Scope of Vaping in Australia's Schools
According to a 2022 study, 32% of New South Wales teenagers aged between 14 and 17 years have tried vaping at least once. A 2017 national study found 13% of 12 to 17-year-olds had tried it. What is vaping and why is it so dangerous? E-cigarettes or “vapes” are battery-powered devices that resemble metal pens, USBs, watches, or other small box-like objects. Cartridges of vape liquids or “juices” are heated and converted into vapour, which the user inhales along with harmful artificial flavourings and
chemicals and other potential contaminants from
the manufacturing process or the device. Understanding a single vape can contain as much nicotine as ten packets of cigarettes, which can cause lung injury, cardiovascular disease, respiratory infections, other serious, negative effects including on brain development and the immune system. Not only can vaping lead to long-term addiction, but it is also associated with other health risks such as seizures, acute nicotine toxicity and burns.
Agressive Marketing Targeting Teenagers
There are many reasons a teenager may vape. Most commonly, curiosity or peer pressure lead to their first experience. Unregulated vape manufacturers are targeting and enticing our young to trying vapes because they “taste like bubble gum”, have “colourful designs” and “smell nice”. In 2022, a survey was conducted to 400 schools around Australia about their issues with vaping, alcohol and other drugs. Principals on the Gold Coast alone reported hundreds of thousands of missed school days and an increase in expulsions due to vaping. We have heard of schools locking up toilets to avoid having a place for students to vape. But this only sees addicted students miss school to find somewhere else to vape. We also have heard from students being home schooled so they can continue to vape. Schools know they have an important role to play in reducing the practice, but say punitive approaches are not helping students quit the habit.
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Monitoring and Managing the Vaping Risk
The installation of ‘Vape’ sensors into toilets, change and shower facilities is now being adopted by many schools. With the use of real time monitoring, email / text message alarms are sent to the facilities team and teachers which, with the help of CCTV, can identify students who are in the vicinity at the time of the alarm. However, if your school is contemplating this type of control, it is important to investigate what the sensors will pick up. Some sensors will pick up the use of cannabis. Others are triggered by deodorant vapours or air fresheners, often resulting in many false alarms. Some, although hard-wired, send information via text, thereby making them susceptible to being hacked which could open up privacy risks for schools. Coupling Vape sensors with CCTV systems shows which students entered or exited a toilet block at a certain time. If a school installs cameras outside the bathrooms (not inside), they can monitor student entry and egress at the point of the alert time. As it is almost impossible for teachers and facilities staff to be in all places where vaping activity occurs, combining vape sensors with CCTV is an effective method to clamp down on this problem.
Stopping Vaping in School Buildings
As schools are working to stop students from vaping, there are calls for vapes to be better regulated, subjected to tougher advertising laws and stamped with warning labels. However, it is still up to schools to provide a duty of care for their students now, and this means that they should not rely solely on general public education campaigns or even potential legislative change. Both strategies may be effective in the long run but they are likely to take quite a long time before they influence genuine behavioural change. Whilst it is an impossible task to curtail students from vaping, all measures must be taken to prevent this activity happening in school campus buildings.
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