Jun 26 2014
We are pleased to announce that an event to celebrate the launch of Radon Guard was held at the National Research Council of Canada (NRCC) in Ottawa on June 17th, 2014.
The event was attended by senior NRCC and Canadian Construction Materials Centre (CCMC) staff, together with members of parliament and industry representatives. Radon Guard is a new, patent pending, structural under-slab ventilation panel system that allows for soil gas removal, insulation and a capillary break between the ground and the air barrier system. The CCMC has now certified Radon Guard to be National Building Code 2010 compliant as a replacement/alternative for the (somewhat problematic) prescriptive solution specified in the code.
Radon is a lethal radioactive gas and the leading environmental cause of lung cancer with the highest mortality rate of all environmental exposures. Health Canada estimates 3,200 people die every year from radon-induced lung cancers in Canada. Radon-induced lung cancer is totally preventable if people test their homes, schools and workplaces for radon and mitigate if above the Health Canada Radon Action Guideline of 200 Bq/m3.
Radon prevention measures are a building code requirement for new construction (homes, commercial buildings and schools). Alan Whitehead, President & CEO of Radon Environmental Management Corp., says, "Radon Guard will become the gold standard for sub-slab ventilation systems in new construction and will save thousands of lives."
According to Randi Fox, principal at Fox Architecture and the inventor of Radon Guard, "Radon Guard provides many advantages over the use of the code prescriptive gravel, which can be regionally hard to find, expensive to transport and labour intensive to install. It is also a potential source of radon itself. Radon Guard will soon be readily available at most building suppliers, is competitively priced, and is fast clean and easy to install. It is a cost effective and efficient insulated under-slab ventilation system."
Radon Environmental and Randi Fox are delighted to be partnered in the commercial development of Radon Guard and to be working with Plasti-Fab Ltd., who will manufacture and distribute the product in Canada. "We would like to compliment NRC on their world class building sciences research facility, which would be the envy of many countries around the world. The Indoor Air Research Laboratory and new RIBET's facility are unique to Canada and have a very knowledgeable and enthusiastic team of researchers that we are proud to be working with on a number of radon prevention projects," Whitehead said.
Radon Environmental Management Corp. is an environmental health and building sciences company focused on reducing public exposure to radon gas. A recognized leader in raising radon awareness and education, the Company is the only integrated provider of radon maps and mapping services, together with radon detectors and certified professional radon measurement services. Radon Environmental is also a leader in funding the research and development of new innovative radon measurement and remediation technologies, like Radon Guard, that will build science into new and existing construction.