When Do Asbestos Certificates (Hard Cards) Expire Under COVID-19? New Update: No more extensions!

… … …

This question is the overwhelming number one question we at Future Environment Designs (FEDTC) are being asked at this time.  So, to answer this question we must remember that there are two agencies that regulate asbestos licensing and training.  The license (companies are licensed; individuals get certificates) or more appropriately the asbestos certificate (hard card) is issued by the New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL).  This certificate expires annually on the last day of your birth month.  Currently, NYSDOL is enforcing expiration dates on certificates.  You may continue to work with your existing cards as long as it is not expired.  In addition, NYSDOL is no longer extending the number of days you can work with a DOH 2832 form when you took an initial course.  NYSDOL is allowing you to work with the DOH 2832 form for 45 days.

Hard card with picture (certificate) & Company license

The second agency that plays a part in this is the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH).  The NYSDOH enforces 10 NYCRR Part 73 Asbestos Safety Program Requirements which regulates the asbestos training providers and also says that the training certificate (the DOH 2832 Form, the piece of paper you get once the class is completed) expires after one year on the date you took the training.  In addition, it has a grace period after that date that lasts a year.  Once the grace period is over you must take an initial course to get another certificate (DOH 2832) for that title.  Realize there has not been any waiver on this issue and so you will need to keep an eye on your training certificate expiration date and make sure you don't go over the grace period.  NYSDOH is now allowing virtual instructor-led courses, see FEDTC's Wednesday, May 27, 2020, blog post on the requirements for that training.  Because of this, there is no need to let your hard card or your training certificate expire.

DOH 2832 Form

Those of you who work in New York City, New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) regulate Asbestos Rules and Regulations, Title 15, Chapter 1 of the Rules of the City of New York.  This regulation also has certificates (NYCDEP hard cards) for individuals who are handlers, handler supervisors, investigators, and restricted handlers.  These hard cards expire every two years based on your birthday (but you must still meet the NYSDOL & NYSDOH requirements of training every year).  NYCDEP is allowing workers whose hard card expired on March 15, 2020, or later to continue to work using their existing card until August 31, 2021.  See NYCDEP's Extension of Asbestos Certification Deadline website for more information.

Hopefully, that answers everyone's questions and we hope to see you in a virtual or in-person class soon.

Proficiency Day Awards Architects & Engineers 3 Professional Development Hours - PACNY's 23rd Annual Environmental Conference - Day One

This year's Proficiency Day of the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 23rd Annual Environmental Conference was approved to award three (3) professional development hours (PDH) for architects and engineers.  This was the first time the first day of the conference was recognized for this purpose.  The first day is typically short with two or three presenters allowing us to get the presentations to the Practicing Institute of Engineers for their review.  Attendees had to sign the attendance sheet and attend the presentations to receive the 3 PDHs.  Ms. Lisa Brown, Executive Secretary of PACNY sent out the certificates to those that attended the presentations.

Karen Cummings, MPH presenting on the Asbestos Safety Training Program

Starting the conference and the proficiency day was Ms. Karen Cummings, MPH presenting on the Asbestos Safety Training Program  "Overview and Updates".  Her presentation gave us insights into the asbestos training industry.  For a copy of her presentation visit our Dropbox folder on the Resources page of our website.  Ms. Cummings has been the Director of the New York State Department of Health's Asbestos Safety Training Program for just over a year and has been getting to know the program.  Her presentation gave asbestos training providers, an important opportunity to meet with her and her staff (Ms. Jessica Pierce, reviewer of training submittals, and Ms. Ida Berry, many of us have met her when she has audited our training courses, were both in attendance).  Her department in 2018 regulated 62 training providers that provided 26,251 training certificates.  Her presentation included several graphics providing us with a glimpse of the NYS asbestos training industry.  The high water mark for training was 2000 when approximately 3,838 training classes (refreshers and initials total) were held (in 2018, 3,401 training classes were held).  Ms. Cummings also informed us that the high water mark for training certificates was 2013 with 29,130 certificates issued.  We learned that the busy season for training providers runs from January to April with over a third of all classes being held in that time period.  Some other interesting points from Ms. Cumming's presentation: 15% of providers (training providers holding 100+ classes per year) taught over half the classes and issued two-thirds of the certificates; average exam scores by discipline were typically higher for refresher classes than initial classes (not surprising) except for the air sample technician discipline (surprising).

Angelo Garcia, III, CIEC, CEOP, presenting on Asbestos Inspections & NYCDEP Changes

The next presentation was a "Review of Asbestos Inspection Requirements" presented by Mr. Angelo Garcia, III, CIEC, CEOP, of Future Environment Designs with significant assistance from Mr. Peter Delucia and Mr. Greg Mance, both from AAC Contracting.  Mr. Delucia worked on the content and did the polling of the audience, while Mr. Mance assisted with the content and questions to the audience.   Our group effort paid off with a well-received presentation that provided the audience with interactivity and information on the various requirements for performing asbestos inspections.  This presentation can also be found in the Dropbox folder.

The final presentation was "New York City Title 15 Amendments" also presented by Mr. Angelo Garcia, III, CIEC, CEOP, and again this presentation can be found in the Dropbox folder.  This presentation was on the recent changes to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection's (NYC DEP's) Title 15 Asbestos Regulation (formerly known as Local Law 76).  These changes were made because of the arrest of 17 NYC asbestos investigators (see the above video on the press conference on the arrests) and the recommendations of the New York City Department of Investigations (NYC DOI).   These changes included additional requirements for NYC Asbestos Investigators and some changes to other parts of the asbestos regulations.  See our previous blog post on these new requirements.

TS Steakhouse Waitress making the "Gotham"

Overall it was a good start to the three-day conference.  Of course, what is a PACNY conference without snow?  It was snowing by the end of the presentations.  Though it did not seem to deter people from attending the President's Reception that evening or prevent us from getting the Gotham at the TS Steakhouse.  Stay tuned for Days Two & Three!

Related Articles:

• NYCDEP Asbestos Rule Amendment Goes Into Effect January 6, 2019
• Countdown to PACNY's 23rd Annual Environmental Conference Begins!

PACNY's Environmental Conference - Day 1 - And So It Begins!

This year's Professional Abatement Contractors of New York (PACNY) 21st Annual Environmental Conference was definitely more technical then previous years.  The first day of the PACNY environmental conference started with the Proficiency Workshop for Trainers.  The Proficiency Workshop speakers consisted of Mr. Kevin Malone, Director of New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH); Mr. Don Pierce of New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL); and Mr. Kevin Hutton of Eastcoast Resources; and Mr. Ed Smith of NYSDOL Engineering Services Unit.

It was a modest Day One which started with networking during lunch. Mr. Malone started the presentations by providing us with an update on the statistics of the asbestos training program.  As we have come to expect the number of individuals attending asbestos courses shrinks every year.  The 2016 stats were 26,734 total certs issued broken done 21,642 refresher certs and 5,092 initial certs issued at 3,349 total classes held.  Those numbers are down from the 2015 stats that were 27,731 total certificates issued with 22,074 refresher certs and 5,657 initial certs issued at 3,436 training courses.

 

Mr. Kevin Malone of NYSDOH

The next presenter was Mr. Pierce discussing the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) auditing update.  For those of you who don't know, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been providing New York State (NYS) with a grant to perform audits of public and private school's AHERA required management plans.  The presentation included a discussion on the process of selecting schools to be audited (randomly selected and/or based upon cause {complaint}), how the data is collected and how the information is provided back to EPA.  In addition, Mr. Pierce discussed several issues the audits have found:

• EPA accepts electronic record-keeping, but hard copies of the original survey and asbestos management plan must be maintained at the Local Education Agency (LEA) office.
• The LEA must assign and train a designated person to oversee asbestos activities and ensure compliance with AHERA requirements.  The designated person must be trained but does not require them to be accredited and does not list a specific course or specific number of hours. It does list specific training topics which include - health effects; detection, identification, & assessment of asbestos; options for controlling asbestos; asbestos management plan topics; and relevant Federal, State, and local regulations for asbestos.  As a side note: Future Environment Designs (FEDTC) recommends designated persons take the asbestos inspector (3 day) and management planner (2 day) initial courses to meet the AHERA requirements.
• EPA allows two methods for new additions to existing buildings.  An architect or project engineer responsible for the construction of a new school building after October 12, 1988 or an accredited inspector to:
• to sign a statement that no asbestos containing building materials (ACBM) was specified as a building material in any construction document for the building, or
• to the best of his or her knowledge, no ACBM was used in any building material in the building.
• The LEA must submit a copy of this statement to the EPA Regional Office and shall include the statement in the management plan of the school.
• Deficiencies found by the audit included:
• Periodic surveillances were missing or weren't well documented
• Documentation of notifications not included or well documented
• ACBM removal not updated in the management plan
• Clearance air monitoring records not available per AHERA

Mr. Don Pierce of NYSDOL

After a short break, the Variance Writing Workshop with Mr. Hutton and Mr. Smith was up next.  This nearly two-hour presentation, got into the details of submitting and writing variances that Mr. Smith's Engineering Services Unit (ESU) reviews for approval, disapproval, or modification. Some of the points discussed:

Mr. Kevin Hutton of Eastcoast Resources

• According to the Asbestos School Hazard Abatement Re-authorization Act (ASHARA) an asbestos project designer is required on Public and Commercial Building asbestos projects (including residential buildings with 10 or more dwellings).
• When writing a variance consider your audience: DOL ESU; Abatement Contractor, Project Monitor; Asbestos Control Bureau (ACB) Inspector; Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Inspector (Compliance Safety Officer); and the Courts.
• Mr. Smith discussed that his department handles between 1400-1500 variances a year.  About 25% are then reopened, with another 5% reopened a second time and another 5% reopened a third time.  Mr. Smith also provided us with a list of Pet Peeves regarding variance applications which included:
• Failing to explicitly list what code sections you are requesting relief from
• Don't be lazy and simply submit someone else's variance and state you want to do what is in that variance.  Own your work, your client is paying you to apply for a variance on their behalf.
• "State-Wide" emergencies
• Try to limit your write-up to the hardship and proposed steps to be taken to work around the hardship.

Mr. Ed Smith of NYSDOL Engineering Services Unit

Variance workshop ended the first day of the Conference.  That evening we celebrated & networked at the President's Reception featuring Dan the Magic Man!

John of TS Steakhouse at Turning Stone Casino

Related articles

• Is It Really Here Again! The 21st Annual PACNY Environmental Conference Starts March 1, 2017.(futureenv.blogspot.com)

  ---

• NYSDOL Roundtable Highlight of PACNY Environmental Conference(futureenv.blogspot.com)

  ---

Tenant Notification Law Goes Into Effect.

Governor David Patterson on September 4, 2008 signed into law Chapter 521 of 2008 going into effect on December 3, 2008. This act amended the environmental conservation law, in relation to the notification of test results. The law defines test results to include results of tests on indoor air, sublab air, ambient air, subslab groundwater samples, and subslab soil samples.
The law requires if test results exceed New York State Department of Health (NYS DOH) indoor air guidelines, or Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) guidelines for indoor air quality the owner of the real property or the owner’s agent shall provide a fact sheet to all tenants and occupants. In addition, the owner shall provide timely notice of any public meetings required to be held to discuss such results to all tenants and occupants. If tenants and occupants request, the owner shall provide test results and any closure letter, within 15 daysof receipt of such results. Should the property have an engineering control in place or is subject to ongoing monitoring the law requires the owner or the agent, upon request, to provide fact sheets, test results or closure letters prior to the signing of a binding lease or rental agreeement with any prospective tenant. In addition, notice shall be included in the rental or lease agreement stating "NOTIFICATION OF TEST RESULTS The property has been tested for contamination of indoor air: test results and additional information are available upon request."

This law was put into place to provide rights to tenants and occupants to access test results and information regarding the contamination of the property they lease, rent, or occupy.