Countdown to PACNY's 23rd Annual Environmental Conference Begins!

It's that time again!  If you haven't registered to attend the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's (PACNY's) 23rd Annual Environmental Conference, its time to do so (It is only 21 days away, from this posting).  The Conference will be held on February 27, 28, and March 1, 2019, at the Turning Stone Casino & Resort in Verona, NY.  This three-day conference, as usual, will include the Wednesday Proficiency Day with the PACNY President's Reception, the Thursday Technical Sessions with the Vendor Hall, and the Vendor Cocktail Party, and completing Friday with the Regulatory Session including a panel from New York State Department of Labor and lunch.  Registration and sponsorship information can be found here.

It all begins on Wednesday, February 27, 2019, at 12:30 PM with a presentation from Ms. Karen Cummings, M.P.H., New York State Department of Health's (NYSDOH's) Director of the Asbestos Safety Training Program.  Her presentation will update us on the status of asbestos training in NYS.  Along with some failings of training providers.  It will continue with presentations from Pete Delucia & Gregg Mance, both of AAC Contracting and myself, Angelo Garcia, III, of Future Environment Designs (#FEDTC), discussing asbestos inspection requirements, and polling of the audience to make this presentation interactive.  Finishing the session will be a presentation of the amendments to the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYDEP's) Title 15 Asbestos Regulations (NYCDEP has been invited to present by teleconference).  We have also submitted the information regarding this day of the conference to the Practicing Institute of Engineering (PIE) for the purpose of being able to award three (3) Professional Development Hours (PDH) to the attendees. The President's Reception is later that evening.

The second day will include presentations by Ms. Sue Rossi, of Waste Management, discussing "Waste Management NY Landfills with acceptance of waste streams"; Adam Schrader of Ecospect with George Schanbach, of NYS AARST, discussing Radon and DOH Regulations Update"; Brian Sampson, of Unshackle Upstate, discussing Albany 2019 What You Need to Know and How it Will Impact Your Business"; Mike Rubin Esq., Partner at Goldberg Segalla, discussing "Best Practices for Abatement Contractors"; Mike Waller, of Rochester Regional Health, discussing "Sustainability?solutions and How to Balance"; and a representative of EIA discussing the "TSCA Update".  The vendor reception/networking will follow the presentations on Thursday.

NYSDOL Panel 2018

The final day will be Friday morning with a Lead (Pb) panel discussion followed by the NYSDOL panel discussion.  Friday ends with lunch and few stragglers discussing the week in review.

Sheryl Esposito Will Be Back at the FEDTC booth this year!

 #FEDTC will have a booth, again, this year and Ms. Sheryl Esposito will be womaning the booth.  We will also have the book I wrote "Do As I Say, Not As I Did! What I've Learned After 30-Years of Being in Business." available at the booth.  You can follow the conference on Twitter, Facebook, & Linked-In by searching for the #FEDTCPACNY.     We are looking forward to teaming with Peter and Greg to do our presentation on Wednesday and hope all of you will join us!

Related Articles:

• Winter Storm Impacts PACNY Conference, Part One.
• PACNY's Second Day, Part Two - A Storm is Coming!
• PACNY's Environmental Conference, Part Three-Bomb Cyclone Hits

NYC DEP Seeks Public Comments on Mold Notification Requirement

New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) is requesting public comments on a Notice of Mold Remediation Work.  A public hearing is being held on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, at 11:00 AM in the NYCDEP's 8th-floor conference room at 59-17 Junction Boulevard, Flushing, New York 11373.  The public comment period closes Wednesday, February 6, 2019.

Mold Growth in Corridor

Local Law Number 61 of 2018 (also known as Intro 978-D) amended the Administrative Code by adding a new Section 24-154, which provides that, before the performance of mold remediation work in certain buildings, the New York State-licensed mold remediation contractor must file a notice of mold remediation with NYCDEP no later than two business days before the project start date.  Section 24-154(c)(3)(b) further provides that notice may be filed within 24 hours after the project starts, instead of at least two days before, if the mold condition to be remediated poses an immediate risk of harm to any person or damage to property.  The purpose of the above public comment period is to establish a rule when such risk of harm exists.  In other words what the exception for two-day notification would be.  NYCDEP is proposing that projects that have at least 30 square feet or more of visible mold within one room or excessive water accumulation or flooding exists could notify NYCDEP 24 hours after the project starts with appropriate documentation that the condition exists.

Mold Abatement/Remediation/Assessment Course for Article 32 Licensing

Local Law 61 of 2018 went into effect on January 1, 2019.  The law requires licensing pursuant with New York State Department of Labor's Article 32 "Licensing of Mold Inspection, Assessment, and Remediations Specialists and Minimum Work Standards Law" to assess, remediate, and abate for mold incidents larger than 10 square feet.  The bill applies to residential buildings containing 10 or more units or commercial buildings larger than 25,000 square feet.  This law prohibits the owners or their direct employees from performing mold remediation or assessment work, which Article 32 allows.  Under this law, the person holding a mold assessment license must file with the NYCDEP a mold remediation form and work plan as well as a mold post assessment form and a mold certification form.  These forms are located at NYCDEP's Air Pollution website under Mold Remediation and Assessment.  It appears it will be an electronic submission and consists of a 6-page form for the mold remediation plan and a 4-page form for the mold post-assessment. 

Most Frequently Cited OSHA Standards in Fiscal Year 2018

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) annually publishes the top ten most frequently cited OSHA standards violated in the previous fiscal year.  OSHA has published the stats for the fiscal year (FY) 2018 (which runs from October 1, 2017, to September 30, 2018).  Here is the list of most frequently cited OSHA standards:

1. Fall Protection, construction (1926.501)
2. Hazard Communication Standard, general industry (1910.1200)
3. Scaffolding, general requirements, construction (1926.451)
4. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
5. Control of Hazardous Energy (lockout/tagout), general industry (1910.147)
6. Ladders, construction (1926.1053)
7. Powered Industrial Trucks, general industry (1910.178)
8. Fall Protection - training requirements, construction (1926.503)
9. Machinery & Machine Guarding, general requirements, general industry (1910.212)
10. Eye and Face Protection (1926.102)

OSHA performed a total of 32,020 inspections in FY 2018.  In 2017, there were 971 fatalities in the construction industry which were 20.7% of total private industry fatalities.  The fatal four (falls, struck by, electrocution, & caught-in/between) were responsible for 59.9% of construction worker deaths in 2017.

The top 10 violations in the Remediation Servies Industry (which includes asbestos abatement, lead abatement, crime scene cleanups, oil spill cleanup, mold remediation, and hazardous materials remediation companies) were:

1. Asbestos (1926.1101)
2. Respiratory Protection (1910.134)
3. Lead (1926.62)
4. Hazard Communication (1910.1200)
5. Permit-required Confined Spaces (1910.146)
6. Inorganic arsenic (1910.1018)
7. Duty to have Fall Protection (1926.501)
8. Electronic Submission of Injury and Illness Records to OSHA (1904.41)
9. Scaffolding, general requirements (1926.451)
10. Ladders (1926.1053)

Interesting how the top four violations in the remediation industry should be the industry's specialty.

Since the silica standard has been in effect since September 23, 2017, we looked to see how many citations were issued in FY 2018.  OSHA performed 202 inspections in reference to the silica standard (1926.1153) and issued 556 citations for total penalties of $815,426.  The top 10 industries cited were:

1. Masonry Contractors
2. Poured Concrete Foundation and Structure Contractors
3. Commercial & Institutional Building Construction
4. Water & Sewer Line & Related Structures Construction
5. Highway, Street, & Bridge Construction
6. Site Preparation Contractors
7. Residential Building Contractors
8. Flooring Contractors
9. All Other Specialty Trade Contractors
10. Siding Contractors

As you can see OSHA is still performing inspections and still issuing citations.  Though silica standard is fairly new OSHA conducted almost triple the inspections than it did regarding asbestos.  However, OSHA's focus is definitely on falls, struck by, electrocutions, and caught-in/between. 

Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year From Future Environment Designs Training Center. The Only Constant is Change!

We wish all of you who read our blog and attend our classes a Merry Holidays and a Happy New Year!  We hope your 2019 is better than your 2018 and may it be healthy, prosperous, and joyful!

Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree

2019 will bring some changes to Future Environment Designs Training Center (#FEDTC).  The first change is to continue to grow our online training by providing training tokens to our clients who attend our asbestos & mold courses.  This added value to our current courses continues to distinguish us from our competitors.  So we can add training courses our clients/students would be interested in, we are asking our attendees for suggestions for classes we can develop into online training courses.  In addition, we are strongly considering becoming a New York State Education facility (we hope to have the financing for this undertaking within 2-3 weeks of the New Year).  This would allow us to offer the New York City training courses and provide the Site Safety Training cards.  It would also require us to expand the number of training instructors we use.  This will be a major undertaking and as many of you who know me, will take tremendous courage on my part to overcome my fears related to trusting others with my business.   2019 is already starting on a good beginning with several courses almost fully booked in the first quarter.

Bergdorf Goodman Window

No sooner than the New Year of 2019 rings in, New York City will be going through several changes.  The asbestos amendments to Title 15 will go into effect January 6, 2019, and the Indoor Allergen Rule goes into effect on January 16, 2019.  In New York State before the New Year hits (December 31) the minimum wage will go up.  In addition, don't forget to save the date for the Professional Abatement Contractors of New York's  (PACNY) 23rd Annual Environmental Conference on February 27-28 & March 1, 2019, at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York.  We will be your host for the February 27th, the proficiency day, where we will be discussing asbestos inspections/survey among other things.  We hope to see you there!  Again, we wish you a Merry Holidays & a Happy New Year!

Related Stories:

• NYC DEP Asbestos Rule Amendment Goes Into Effect
• NYC HPD Proposes Rules to Implement Indoor Allergen Hazards
• December 2018 Safety Suzy Newsletter
• Long Island's Minimum Wage Workers Getting a Raise
• Register for the PACNY Conference
• NYC Adds Training Requirements for Construction Workers
• NYC Site Safety Training website

 

Local Law 196 of 2017 Deadlines Extended.

On November 8, 2018, New York City Department of Buildings tweeted about extending the deadlines for construction training under Local Law 196 of 2017.  Click here to see the tweet.  This pushes back the training requirements deadline from December 1, 2018, to June 1, 2019.  Currently, to work on most construction projects all that is required is an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 10-hour construction safety course card.  This requirement will continue to be required until June 1, 2019.

After June 1, 2019, construction workers will be required to have 30-hours of training either by taking an OSHA 30-hour construction safety course or by getting 20 additional training hours over the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course.  Those 20 additional training hours must consist of an 8-hour fall protection course, a 4-hour scaffold user course, and an 8-hour site safety manager refresher course.

The next deadline has also been extended to September 1, 2020.  That deadline will require individuals taking the OSHA 10-hour construction safety course to take 30 additional hours of training or those individuals taking the OSHA 30-hour construction safety course to take 10 additional training hours.  For more information click here for the NYC Buildings Department November 2018 Service Update explaining these changes and requirements.

Related Articles:

• New York City Adds Training Requirements for Construction Workers
• The Impact of New York City’s New Mandatory Construction Site Safety Training Requirements Under Local Law 196

NYC's Department of HPD Proposes Rules to Implement Indoor Allergen Hazards Legislation

The New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (NYCHPD) is holding a public hearing on November 2, 2018, to accept comments on a proposed rule to implement legislation regarding indoor allergen hazards.  To find out how to comment on the proposed rule visit NYC's rule website at https://rules.cityofnewyork.us/content/proposed-rules-regarding-indoor-allergen-hazards.  The proposed rules implement Local Law 55 of 2018, enacted by the City Council.  The legislation establishes an owner's responsibility to investigate for and remediate indoor allergen hazards like mold, cockroaches, mice, and rats in multiple dwellings.  The rules provide for work practices to be used by owners in performing the work to remediate these conditions.  The Local Law goes into effect on January 2019.

Green algae in condensate pan

The new rules include several definitions that are interesting:

• Indoor allergen hazard - means any indoor infestation of cockroaches, mice, or rats or conditions conducive to such infestation or an indoor mold hazard.
• Indoor mold hazard - means any condition of mold growth on an indoor surface, building structure or ventilation system, including mold that is within wall cavities, that is likely to cause harm to a person or that has been cited as a violation by NYCHPD.
• Pest -means any unwanted member of the Class Insecta, including, but not limited to houseflies, lice, bees, cockroaches, moths, silverfish, beetles, bedbugs, ants, termites, hornets, mosquitoes, and wasps and members of the Order Rodentia, including but not limited to mice, Norway rats, and any other unwanted plant, animal or fungal life that is a pest because it is destructive, annoying or a nuisance.
• Underlying defect means a condition that causes an indoor mold hazard, such as a water leak or water infiltration from plumbing or defective masonry pointing or other moisture condition or causes an infestation of pests, including holes or entryway paths for pests.

Mold on a sheetrock wall

These rules require the owner of the building to make an annual inspection for indoor allergen hazards in apartments and common areas of the building.  It also requires the owner to inspect if the occupant informs them that there is a condition in the apartment that is likely to cause an indoor allergen hazard or the occupant requests an inspection or NYCHPD issues a violation requiring the correction of an indoor allergen hazard in an apartment.  The owner is required to fix an indoor allergen hazard in an apartment using safe work practices specified in these rules.  The owner must provide new tenants with a pamphlet developed by the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  Prior to new tenant occupancy, the owner is required to fix all visible mold and pest infestations in the apartment, as well as underlying defects using the safe work practices.  The assessments or work regarding indoor mold hazards must be performed in compliance with Article 32 of New York State Labor Law (Mold Licensing and Minimum Work Practices).  It seems to us if this rule goes into effect tenants have another weapon they can use to make sure their apartments are healthy living environments.

Related Articles:

New York City Asthma-Free Housing Act by Jack Springston, CIH, CSP, FAIHA

NYS Department of Labor Publishes Two New Mold Fact Sheets

Asthma Control Study Indicates a Home Visit Strategy is Successful.

New York State Mold Licensing & Minimum Standards Law Is Signed By Governor Cuomo

NYS Mold Law Changes, Licensing Requirement Goes Into Effect January 1, 2016.

Mold Legislation Threatens Restoration/Remediation Industries

Future Environment Designs Attends LITE 2018 - What Else Can We Do To Improve Our Offerings?

What has now become the annual trek to Edinburgh, Scotland to attend the Leadership Innovation Technology Evolution (LITE) conference was on September 20 and 21, 2018.  Just like the previous conferences, we came away from this conference inspired to continue to improve on our course offerings and increase the information we provide you.  We will continue to transition to online course evaluations, by using Surfaces connected to the course evaluation system we will go electronic for course evaluations.  We are also in the process of converting the asbestos refresher exams to be online.  That will probably take a while to accomplish, hoping to complete it within the next year.

Vicky Kavanagh of Administrate Discussing the Advantages of Blended Learning

Presentations by Vicky Kavanagh of Administrate, Sandy Rushton of Bright Carbon, and Graham David of Blue Bettle Productions taught us how to improve our presentations and make them more informative and entertaining.  Vicky Kavanagh's presentation helped us to determine what else we can we do with the blended learning environment we created.  Sandy Rushton's presentation taught us how animations in powerpoint presentations can help keep learners focused on the message.  Graham David's presentation encouraged us to ask more questions in our presentations to make it more interactive.  These improvements you will see in the next courses and over the next year.

Sandy Rushton of Bright Carbon Discussing How to Improve Stories

We will be expanding our token program for providing access to additional online training courses, and increasing the topics we cover on these programs.  Starting January 2019, to add value to our training courses every registration will include a Silver Token that will be good for taking one online course and will be good for a year.  Our current online courses include courses on respirators, crystalline silica, asbestos awareness, and New York City asbestos handler/supervisor exam review course.  The next courses we are working on is a New York City asbestos investigator exam review course and a Hazard Communication/Right-to-Know Course.  We hope to have these courses available before the New Year.

#LITE2018 was Inspiring and Informative as Previous LITEs

The #LITE2018 conference helped us learn more about the Administrate program and a new feature coming out down road called Learning Paths may help us develop even more courses.  The end of the first day was the annual Historic Pub Crawl which we enjoyed and included visiting three pubs the BeeHive Inn, Biddy Mulligans, and the Jolly Judge.  All three had old wooden bars that were quite impressive.  More interesting was the ability to drink outside the pubs in the UK, not just in a patio or a beer garden.  The Jolly Judge was in a courtyard where you were allowed to stand outside with your drink and while discussing the day's events.  LITE 2018 was another successful conference and we will be able to continue to expand our offerings because of the Administrate product.  

Pub Crawl was Fun & Good for Networking