Future Environment Designs, Inc. would like to wish all our clients and friends a very Happy 4th of July! We hope your celebration is a joyful one, a safe one, and one that remembers the importance of leaving this country better off for our children and our children's children! We would like to remember the words Theodore Roosevelt said regarding the USA:
Blessed Be America!
We are now fully open that the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has decided that fully vaccinated people can resume normal activities and New York State has announced that 70% of New Yorkers have received the first dose. We have updated our pandemic policy to meet the new requirements. When you attend training with us please provide proof that you have been vaccinated so we can allow everyone to not wear face coverings. We strongly recommend the use of the New York State Excelsior Pass System. The system creates a wallet on your smartphone to allow you to present proof that you've been vaccinated. If you are not vaccinated, you can either attend a virtual training course or attend an in-person course as long as you wear a face-covering (as per CDC recommendations).
We've been very busy creating eLearning courses. We've just finished creating a Lead in Construction Awareness Course and will be completing a Mold in Construction Awareness Course, soon. We can bundle these courses together with our Asbestos Awareness Course to create an entry-level certificate course (ALM) Asbestos, Lead, and Mold in Construction Awareness or add our Silica in Construction course to create another entry-level certificate course (SLAM) Silica, Lead, Asbestos, and Mold in Construction Awareness. The ALM certificate course costs $65 and the SLAM certificate course costs $75. These are significant savings from taking the courses separately. Please contact us at 1-800-969-3888 to set these courses up for your staff.
Finally, those of you who have attended our classes for years have met Alyssa, my daughter, and remember her cute way of saying wetter-water. Well, we're happy to announce that Alyssa got married in May to a wonderful woman Sarah Jednak. We are so happy to have Sarah officially join the family. We look forward to seeing everyone soon!
When we first became an asbestos consultant over 39 years ago, we remember people telling us that buildings will remove all their
asbestos materials in 5 years, 10 years, or 15 years depending on who we talked to. Well, asbestos is still in
buildings and this article is about why there are many years still left in this industry. In the construction industry, there are some who think that a certain
year was the end of asbestos use in building materials. Over the years we have reviewed many asbestos
inspection reports or property transfer reports (phase I environmental audits)
reporting that since a building or a part of a building was built after 1980
there are no asbestos-containing materials.
The companies making this statement assume that the federal government
banned all asbestos-containing materials in 1980. In
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| Terrazo? |
The federal agency with
the responsibility for banning asbestos is the EPA. This agency, under the National
Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAPS), banned the use of
asbestos for sprayed-on application of fireproofing and insulating in 1973 and
for decorating purposes in 1978. In 1975 EPA’s NESHAPS regulation
also banned the installation of pre-formed (molded) asbestos block insulation
on boilers and hot water tanks and the wet-applied and pre-formed (molded)
asbestos pipe insulation. Since two of
these bans did not go into effect until after 1974, the
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| Electrical wire insulation |
Is there an appropriate
end date for asbestos use in buildings? Some headlines indicate the answer to this question is no. These headlines indicate that some current building
materials are contaminated with asbestos or still contain asbestos sufficiently
enough for the materials to be considered asbestos-containing materials. For example, the Asbestos Disease Awareness
Organization (ADAO) reported in November 2007 that they sampled a number of current
building materials and determined that DAP’s “33” window glazing and “crack
shot” spackling paste and Gardner’s leak stopper roof patch all contained
asbestos. DAP’s “33” window glazing was
purchased at Home Depot and Lowes for the purpose of the study and contained 2.6%
tremolite, and 0.13% chrysotile asbestos (2.73% total asbestos). DAP’s “crack shot” spackling paste was also purchased
at Home Depot and Lowes and contained 0.98% tremolite, and 0.066% chrysotile
asbestos (1.05% total asbestos).
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| asbestos woven products |
The Liability of Ignorance
Since there is no total ban on the use of asbestos
in building materials, it means that 1974 or 1980 are not appropriate cut off
dates on the use of asbestos in building materials. This means all buildings or facilities no matter when they were constructed should be inspected for asbestos-containing materials. EPA's NESHAP regulation 40 CFR 61.145 Standard for demolition and renovation requires buildings/facilities to be thoroughly inspected before the renovation or demolition, no matter what date the building was built. It also means that the construction industry
should be very careful when working on buildings after these dates because it
is possible that if an asbestos inspection or survey was done it may have not been done properly. From our experience, we've seen inspectors not sample roofing materials, joint compound, sheetrock, textured paint, siding shingles, and window caulking just to name a few building materials that should be sampled. Building owners,
banks, facility managers, architects, engineers, general contractors, and
subcontractors should not think that because the EPA regulation requires an inspection, and if the inspection is not done correctly that there is no chance for a violation or liability. OSHA requires that employers inform their
workers of all the potential hazards at a project (job) site. Should materials that were not inspected turn
out to be asbestos-containing or even if the sample result is 1% or trace asbestos and the exposure exceeds the permissible exposure
limit (0.1 fibers per cubic centimeter based on an eight hour time-weighted
average) or the excursion limit (1.0 fibers per cubic centimeter over thirty
minutes) the employer would be in violation of the OSHA asbestos
regulation. No matter the construction
date of the building. The building owner
could then face third-party litigation from the workers if they develop a
disease (mesothelioma being the most significant because of its direct tie to
asbestos exposure) from such an exposure. In addition, the AHERA regulation which
applies to public and private schools (kindergarten to 12th grade) requires that architects that design new
schools or renovations of existing schools certify that the building materials
used do not contain asbestos. Utilizing safety data sheets (SDS), which are required for most building
products, to certify the products would not be sufficient considering that
DAP’s SDS (discussed above) did not mention the asbestos contamination in the product and the NESHAPS regulation requires building materials to be sampled for the content of asbestos. Meaning the only way to certify the products
to limit liability would be to have suspected materials sampled and analyzed
for asbestos. It is very important for
building owners, banks, facility managers, architects, engineers, general
contractors, sub-contractors, asbestos inspectors, and phase I environmental
auditors to realize that although the asbestos regulations refer to dates before 1980, inspections are advisable and required under the EPA's NESHAPS & OSHA's asbestos regulations since the
installation of asbestos-containing materials into buildings can continue to this
day.
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| Fire Door |
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| Hard card with picture (certificate) & Company license |
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The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) annually publishes the top ten most frequently cited OSHA standards violated in the previous fiscal year. Unfortunately, the list has not been published yet on the OSHA website. OSHA unveiled a preliminary list of its top 10 violations during a webinar with the National Safety Council's (NSC) Safety+Health magazine. In the webinar, OSHA discussed the stats for the fiscal year (FY) 2020 (which runs from October 1, 2019, to September 30, 2020). Here is the list of most frequently cited OSHA standards:
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| Proper Fall Protection and Scaffolding |
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| Quantifit Respirator Fit Testing System (QNFT) |
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| Scaffolding Violations are number 4 for all industries & number 3 for the remediation industry |
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| Mold Remediation Industry |
The construction industry has come a long way since the early 1900s when the world was just learning about the harmful effects of asbestos and mold on people’s health. Today, Local Law 196 by the City of New York and other government regulations make safety training mandatory for all construction workers to ensure their own safety as well as the safety of others.
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| Online Safety Training |
Despite New York's construction industry shrinking 8.5% since the pandemic hit, experts expect it to quickly recover and serve as the backbone of the U.S. economy in upcoming years. Construction in healthcare is expected to see the biggest rise with growth of 38% between 2020 and 2023.
All of this is great news for construction workers as well as individuals who might be out of a job and thinking about joining the industry. However, this news also means that there will be an increased demand for safety training in times when physical movement and social interactions are very limited.
This is where online training can make a real difference. Traditionally associated with soft skills and IT training, online learning is a real game-changer when it comes to health and safety training. Not only is it more affordable than its face-to-face alternative, but it’s far more flexible and accessible in a time when people’s mobility is restricted.
Whether you’re looking for mold remediation certification or asbestos training classes, here we cover the top five benefits you can expect from your online safety training.
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| Asbestos pipe insulation |
When it comes to safety, no cost is too high. Still, the increase in job uncertainty and market volatility has made people very cost-sensitive. In a world where no job is secure, every cent counts.
In this context, online training is a winner as online courses can be as much as 10 times less expensive than its face-to-face alternative. In-person training often requires significant logistical effort, both from the training provider and the construction worker. This includes the time the instructor needs to spend in preparing for and delivering training, printing and preparing materials, arriving at and leaving the training premises, etc. Likewise, the construction worker needs to invest time in getting to and out of their training, taking away from the valuable time they can spend working or with their families.
Online training removes all of this complexity while not compromising on quality, making it a super affordable option. Learners need a computer or a smartphone with a good internet connection and they’re good to go.
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| Silica Sampling |
Health and safety standards are continuously updated in order to keep in line with the latest research and developments in healthcare. One clear example is the pandemic and the sudden need for training on SARS-CoV-2 for all construction workers.
However, updating materials when they’re printed and ready for distribution might not be the easiest task. Say, for instance, there was a slight change in regulations on how construction workers need to secure a space before they commence work. If the training is already scheduled for the following day, there might not be enough time to get the training materials updated in time for that training session.
However, that isn’t the case with online training. Online learning materials can be uploaded in small learning units which can easily be edited and re-uploaded to reflect the latest information on the topic. Regardless of whether you bought the training before the change was introduced, your online training materials will always be up-to-date.
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| COVID-19 Training |
Online safety training might not have been an option 30 or even 20 years ago because the internet was still not a thing. However, the last decade has seen a dramatic increase in the adoption of online learning across all industries. This is not only because learning technologies have greatly evolved in this period, but also because individuals have become increasingly interconnected with the use of smartphones.
The fact that you can now get training while commuting from work or during your lunch break at work means that you can save yourself a great amount of time. No longer do you need to block out days from your calendar to take hours-long training. Nor do you need to take time off of work to finish the training before your certificate expires. Online training puts you in the driver’s seat on where and when you get trained without making any major changes to your schedule.
Face-to-face training works well because it’s familiar and people know what to expect. However, face-to-face training is also designed to fit the needs of the group, leaving very little room for a personalized approach to training. If you’re struggling with one part of the training, it will require an extra effort on your part to flag that up with your instructor and get additional support.
Online training makes this much easier as the instructor can often see how you’re progressing through the coursework and offer advice on additional materials you might benefit from, all from the comfort of your own home. Likewise, different people have different learning styles. While you might prefer to learn through videos, others could learn better by hearing a step-by-step guide on how something is done. Online training offers that flexibility where learning materials can come either as videos, audio recordings, or digital instruction manuals for you to use. This can make the learning process more engaging and effective and help you learn better.
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| Construction Safety Training |
When training people on-site, there’s a limit to how many people can attend the training based on compliance requirements as well as restrictions imposed by the pandemic. This could mean that you won’t be able to get your slot well into the future depending on available spaces.
This can make things complicated if your certificate is about to expire and you require to take your training within a very limited timeframe. Online training solves that problem by making it possible for any number of people to book their training at any given time. There’s no problem with over-booking or under-booking training sessions, meaning that your training is always going ahead. Not to mention that the training will always be delivered at the highest possible standard, to all people attending the course.
Online training has often been pushed to the sidelines when it comes to safety training. Some people might argue that there’s something counterintuitive in delivering safety training remotely. However, nothing can be further from the truth. A big part of what construction workers have to know has to do with observing regulations and standards and understanding how to maneuver in a potentially hazardous environment. A lot of this learning can be done online, at home, saving yourself and the instructor time and money. And that is something we can all use a bit more of today.
With the end of 2024 fast approaching, we are looking ahead to 2025, we are excited to announce the dates for the Professional Abatement Con...
