Future Environment Designs Training Center's Blog

Monday, October 12, 2015

Future Environment Designs Approved For All NYS DOL Mold Courses

We are happy to announce that New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) has approved Future Environment Designs, Inc to train the Mold Assessor Course (4 days of training), the Mold Contractor Remediation Course (3 days of training), and the Mold Abatement Worker Course (2 days of training). Visit our website for the current training schedule that now has proposed training dates for all three courses. In addition, remember we can do these courses with our at your convenience service.

Water Intrusion left longer than 48 hours, mold growth.

Now that we are approved for these courses, here are some interesting points:

NYSDOL will start accepting applications for these licenses on November 16, 2015.
Under Article 32, all mold assessors, mold remediation contractors, mold supervisors, and mold workers must be licensed by January 1, 2016.
The mold assessor is the person who will be making most of the decisions on how the remediation will proceed on a project. The assessor in a sense (using asbestos terms) is the inspector, designer and project monitor/air sample technician (daily monitoring not required under the standard only clearance) for the remediation.
The mold contractor remediation course is not only for the owner (s) of the remediation company, it is also for the estimators, and supervisors of the workers.
Obviously, the mold abatement worker course is for all workers working on the remediation.
For the training providers the fee for course approval was $500 which was at the low end of the scale mentioned in the law. Based on this we suspect the licensing fee for mold workers and supervisors will be $50 per worker. The mold assessor will be at $150 per worker. The remediation contractor will be $500 per contractor.
When mold assessors submit for their license they will have to show proof of workmen's compensation and liability insurance (at least $50,000 coverage). Meaning you will have to use your employer's insurance or submit your own insurance.
NYSDOL's mold website continues to grow and provide more and more information. The most recent additions are:

a flow chart graphic that indicates the required training course to obtain mold-related licensing.
Second addition to the NYSDOL website is a link to the webpage titled Home Inspectors & Mold Assessment Licensing. The webpage explains when a home inspector needs to be licensed as a mold assessor. Based on this page it says home inspectors need to be licensed if their inspections/reports include an assessment of mold conditions in the home or property in question. Based Labor Law Article 32, a mold assessment is "an inspection or assessment.....that is designed to discover mold, conditions that facilitate mold, indication of conditions that are likely to facilitate mold, or any combination thereof."

Most of the work practices will probably come from the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) and the New York City Department of Health's (NYCDOH) guidance documents with some references to S520 from Institute of Inspection Cleaning Restoration and Certification (IICRC).

We are still waiting for the written regulations, though we suspect these will take time and the training that will be provided will be the basis of the eventual regulations. Only time will tell where these regulations will end up.

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

NYC's Legionnaire Outbreak Over, Leading to New Requirements for Building Owners.

The recent legionnaire's disease outbreak in the Bronx, is over according to the New York City Health Department. The impact of this disease outbreak seems to have not had an impact on the Opera House Hotel (according to the New York Times) which was at the center of the outbreak. A far cry from the first legionnaire outbreak back in 1976. That outbreak caused the closing of the Bellevue Stratford Hotel, four months after the outbreak and it did not reopen until 1979.

English: Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Legionnaire's disease is caused by a common gram negative rod-shaped bacterium called Legionella. It is widely distributed natural inhabitant of waters. There are approximately 50 species and 70 serogroups have been described. The 1976 occurrence in Philadelphia had 221 people that were treated and 34 deaths. Legionella bacterium was found in the cooling tower of the hotel's air conditioning system.

Legionnaire's disease symptoms include fever, chills, cough, muscle aches, headache, tiredness, loss of appetite, loss of coordination and occasionally diarrhea and vomiting. Typically takes 2-10 days to incubate. Many cases go undiagnosed and transmission is not person to person. It is treatable with antibiotics if diagnosed early enough.

The infection occurs from inhaling water droplets that originated from a water source contaminated with Legionella. Typical manmade sources include cooling towers, evaporative coolers, hot water systems, showers, whirlpool spas, architectural fountains, room-air humidifiers, ice-making machines and misting equipment. Environmental sources are freshwater ponds, rivers and creeks.

A forced draft cooling tower (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Commonly used method of analysis is the methodology from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) which involves collecting a sample of the water source. Culture Analysis is considered the "gold standard" and analysis can take 10-14 days. The OSHA Technical Manual offers the following guidelines for interpreting Legionella analysis results (numbers are in colony forming units per milliliter (cfu/ml)):

ACTION    COOLING TOWER   DOMESTIC WATER    HUMIDIFIER

  1                     100                           10                     1

  2                    1000                         100                    10


Action 1: Prompt cleaning and/or biocide treatment of the system.

Action 2: Immediate cleaning and/or biocide treatment.

As part of the outbreak, the New York City Commissioner of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) issued a mandatory order to have cooling systems inspected and remediated within 14 days of receipt of the order.  New York City has recently passed new requirements (Local Law 77 of 2015) for the registration of cooling towers and evaporating condensers.  Existing cooling towers and evaporative condensers must be registered with the New York City Building Department (NYC DOB) by September 17, 2015.  Visit the NYC DOB website for more info.  The DOHMH order requires building owners to hire environmental consultants experienced in disinfection using current industry standard protocols including the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 188P and Cooling Technology Institute Guidelines WTB-148.

Disinfection will require the use of biocides, biocides are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) and by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC). EPA regulates the labeling and use of biocides. NYS DEC requires a commercial pesticide applicator certification in Category 7G - Cooling Towers, Pulp & Paper Process.

Will these new requirements prevent another outbreak? Only if the regulations are enforced. There are many laws on the books, however, how many of them are enforced. You can almost say instead of "the devil is in the details", you should say "the devil is in enforcement". Be Safe!

Related articles