IICRC Standard S520: In the Hands of an Industry

Dismissal Prompts Bioaerosols Committee Resignations

HUD Establishes 'Normal' Ratios of Mold in Homes

Word on the Street 

BIG PAYDAY
A mold litigation case in Gloucester, Mass., ended in November with a jury ruling in favor of defendant Katrine Stevens and demanding the Pirates Lane Condominium Trust to pay $549,326. The figure was derived with consideration to eight years of inflation; in June 1995, Stevens moved from the condo doctors said was causing her health symptoms. The defense's milestone victory may set a benchmark in the amount of the payoff. Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly Editor David Yas told the Boston Globe that court payoffs are normally closer to $35,000.

PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star New Homes program and the EPA Indoor Environments Division are soliciting comments on a voluntary labeling program for new homes that incorporates features addressing IAQ. This program would complement EPA's existing Energy Star labeling program for new homes. Starting with the Energy Star criteria as a prerequisite, the specifications include a wide range of construction materials, practices, and equipment designed to improve indoor air quality as well as moisture control, comfort and durability. To provide an opportunity for interested parties to comment on the various aspects of the labeling program, the EPA has provided a Web site with the actual specifications document and also introductory materials that explain the program and its goals. The Web site is www.epa.gov/iaq/energystar/label_specifications.html Comments should be limited to issues concerning the specifications and their conformance to the four criteria listed in the introductory material, which are sound technical basis, compatibility with production builder construction practices, reasonable cost, and ability to be written as a clear, verifiable specification. Comments must be received by March 12 and may be submitted via e-mail through the above Web site or by mail to: David Price, Indoor Environments Division (6609J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ariel Rios Building (AR), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460.

ASHRAE PROJECT COMMITTEE
An information meeting to be held Jan. 23, one day before the ASHRAE winter meeting in Anaheim, Calif., will address the creation of an ASHRAE project committee to develop an HVAC inspection and maintenance standard. Any interested individuals are welcome to attend this informal meeting, where the topic of discussion will be the scope of the standard now tentatively titled "Standard Practice for Inspection and Maintenance of Mechanical Ventilation Systems." Bob Baker, who is helping to coordinate the meeting, says input on the issues and ideas for the project's structure is being sought. For additional details, Baker can be reached by e-mail at RBaker@bbjenviro.com or by phone at (813) 622-8550.

CRYSTAL BALL
Property insurance claims related to mold are shifting from homes to commercial properties such as apartments, condominiums and schools, noted the Insurance Information Institute's chief economist and senior vice president. Addressing the Congress of the Institute for Business and Home Safety, Robert Hartwig described a trend that can be verified in legal cases covered in IE Connections reporting throughout the past year. Hartwig even suggested the trend would include cases involving mold in cars - the very subject fueling one case described in an IEC article last month. Hartwig also presented some numbers concerning losses experienced within the insurance industry. Insurance Journal magazine quoted him as saying, "Insurers have paid out an average of $1.16 in losses for every dollar earned in premiums over the past 13 years." According to the same report, Hartwig estimated that homeowners' expenditures in 2004 would rise by 8 percent over last year, due mostly to such losses in underwriting. Three of the top factors he mentioned were catastrophes, "toxic" mold and construction defects.

IAQ CLASS
A degree program in indoor environments could be on its way in Oklahoma. At the University of Tulsa, students this spring semester will attend a 15-week, college-credit course called Introduction to Indoor Air Quality. Topics to be covered in this evening class include building and construction science, building codes, governmental standards and guidelines, basics of microbiology, indoor pollutants, health effects from "sick buildings," and controlling indoor environments. Sessions will be taught by internationally recognized experts including the university's own Dr. Richard Shaughnessy, who has since 1987 been the program manager for indoor air research and also leads air quality courses across the nation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The university's Indoor Air program expects four related courses to begin in the fall: Microbiology of the Indoor Environment, Chemistry of the Indoor Environment, Building Dynamics and Indoor Pollution Control Approaches, and Indoor Air Quality Exposure and Risk Analyses. Non-students interested in taking these classes for continuing education credits can contact Frances Najera by e-mail at frances-najera@utulsa.edu or by phone at (918) 631-2937.

FOREIGN ADVOCATE
Proponents of good IAQ and public health have a highranking ally working in the office of Singapore's prime minister. ADec. 10 article printed in the country's Today online newspaper quoted Senior Minister Matthias Yao as saying: "The imperative to maintain a good indoor environment cannot be overstated. … Many studies show that a good indoor environment reduces the incidence of the occupants falling sick." Yao addressed the Healthy Buildings 2003 conference, which was held last month at the National University of Singapore. The news article also detailed some work done by the National  Environmental Agency, which responds to IAQ complaints in the country. The agency customarily uses air samples and interviews people inside the building to gauge the status in the indoor environment.

IICRC Standard S520: In the Hands of an Industry
By Steve Sauer

The first printing of the IICRC S520 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Mold Remediation began arriving in the hands of IAQ professionals across the country in the middle of last month.

The distribution of S520, the first industry born standard of its kind, marked a conclusion to years of preparation by the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration
Certification with contributing organizations Indoor Environment Institute and Indoor Air Quality Association.

All three organizations are also helping to distribute S520. Because prices may vary, customers are urged to visit the Web sites of the organizations selling them: IICRC,
www.iicrc.org; IAQA, www.iaqa.org; and IEI, www.ieinstitute.org. Other associations listed as being involved in creating the S520 are the American Indoor
Air Quality Council, the International Society of Cleaning Technicians and the National Air Duct Cleaners Association.

As Carl Grimes wrote two months ago advising affected parties in the mold remediation industry, "Read all of it first, see the intention of the document, and then decide for yourself if it accomplishes that intent. And then let the committee know when they reconvene in January."

Discussion about the standard began to spark within the indoor air quality arena in the weeks following the document's release. Readers wanting to send their comments to the IICRC Standards Committee can do so by writing by e-mail to standardschair@iicrc.org.

Seven people have resigned from their seats on the Bioaerosols Committee of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists. Although many seemed resolved to keep news of the situation away from the trade press, one of the former committee members has agreed to an exclusive interview with IE Connections on the condition of anonymity. The resigning members joined with others to sign a statement addressed to the ACGIH Executive Board citing a general level of disrespect for and lack of communication with committee members. The group spokesperson forwarded a portion of the letter to IE Connections and pointed to the board's "punitive and premature" removal of Richard Shaughnessy from the committee. The letter calls Shaughnessy's dismissal "a symptom of the Board's lack of clear, open and respectful
interaction with this committee." 

The group spokesperson confirmed that one day after ACGIH and its Bioaerosols Committee co-sponsored a three-day mold symposium last November, the Executive
Board called then-committee member Richard Shaughnessy into the room "to tell him that he is off the committee." The source adds that the board later put a different spin on Shaughnessy's status with the committee, saying he was simply "not reappointed." Shaughnessy, who has volunteered as a member of the committee since 1997 while working as program manager of the University of Tulsa's Indoor Air Pollution Research Center, had been one of the most prominent people leading discussions and introducing speakers at the mold symposium. When another speaker could not attend due to illness, Shaughnessy was meticulous in his impromptu run-through of Terry Brennan's 40-minute topic, "Hidden Mold, Unplanned Airflows and Aerobiological Pathways in Buildings."

Some of Shaughnessy's words at the symposium led the board to dismiss him one day later, stated the group spokesperson. After hundreds of symposium attendees heard an announcement that the committee would soon begin meeting to work on a best practices document on mold remediation, Shaughnessy told the crowd that it could contact members of the committee on an individual, informal basis. Higher-ups at the microphone, however, insisted that all feedback must be formally addressed to ACGIH. Shaughnessy again made his original remark.

This back-and-forth discourse at the microphone may have been the last straw for the board to dismiss Shaughnessy, the spokesperson speculated, but Committee Chair Ken Martinez also had "a laundry list of complaints" against him - "none of which are valid," the group spokesperson added. These are referred to in the letter as "unfounded insinuations," the spokesperson commented. Portions of the letter voiced the resigning committee members' greatest concerns with the parent organization. "Our overarching issue is the way in which the ACGIH Board interacts with the ACGIH committees," it states. "Lack of respect for the committee members who contribute their knowledge, time, energy and expertise as volunteers, in fact the lack of collegiality in making unfounded insinuations, undermine the trust and integrity
which has made true the statement from ACGIH's Web site: 'For over 60 years, ACGIH has been respected for its dedication to the industrial hygiene and occupational health and safety industries.' It is unfortunate that this respect is now in jeopardy." 

Although Martinez has not stepped down from his position, those who have resigned in this matter include Vice Chair Harriet Ammann and members John Martyny, Philip Morey, James Otten, Tiina Reponen, Stephen Reynolds, and Shaughnessy. This is nearly every committee member except for the inactive Donald Milton, former chair and committee member Janet Macher, and committee consultant Harriet Burge, all of whom signed the letter advising the board of poor communication with the committee. ACGIH Executive Director Tony Rizzuto
refused an interview request.

In 1999, the ACGIH Bioaerosols Committee, led at the time by Macher, was responsible for writing the 1999 publication "Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control," seen as one of the leading resources in its field.

Results of a baseline study sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development have established general interpretive guidelines for what is "normal" in terms of mold prevalence in homes with no water damage. The study, conducted by Atlanta-based
Air Quality Sciences for HUD, examines the types and ratios of molds prevalent in homes. It investigates urban, single family homes in the Atlanta area over an extended period that included a full range of seasonal and weather conditions.

The study is significant due to its unique use of control housing, explained Tony Worthan, president of Air Quality Sciences. "In the past, there have been no guidelines available that define what is normal and, therefore, what should be considered abnormal," Worthan said. "While other studies have focused on 'problem buildings,' this study is valuable because it captures data from buildings with no history of water damage. This provides a basis for comparison so investigators can more easily identify problems."

The study features lists of the 30 most prevalent species of mold in samples collected from homes surveyed. The top four categories in both indoor and outdoor airborne samples was Cladosporium cladosporioides (prevalent in
47.3 percent of indoor samples and 49.5 percent of outdoor samples), Cladosporium sp. (40.3 percent indoor and 46.5 percent outdoor),Penicillium sp. (35.6 percent indoor and 35.5 outdoor) and non-sporulating fungi (hyaline) (35.1 percent indoor and 35.5 percent outdoor).

Two separate lists of the 30 most prevalent dustborne molds are included in the study, including one list of molds identified using MEA growth media and another using DG-18 agar media. Epicoccum nigrum was most prevalent
using the MEA media, in 78 percent of dust samples, while Penicillium sp. ranked most prevalent in the DG-18 list, at 67 percent. Aspergillus niger made the top three in both of these lists, prevalent in 62 percent with the DG-18 media and in 57 percent with the MEAmedia. The most prevalent airborne mold, Cladosporium cladosporioides, was also among the five most prevalent dustborne molds. 

Only the top 30 airborne and dustborne molds are listed in the study because, said Worthan, "the prevalence fell off sharply after the 30th ranking to levels that were not statistically significant." In a presentation last October at the Aerias Third Annual National Symposium in Atlanta, Worthan explained that the paper establishes "the 20:20 rule," an interpretive guideline for what are "normal" ratios of leaf-surface, soil and water indicator molds in dust and air samples for homes in the southeastern United States. "The vast majority of the repeated settled dust samples taken from the 'non-problem'homes in this study yielded greater than 20 percent of leaf-surface fungi. So it follows that in a building investigation that if less than 20 percent of leaf-surface fungi are found in repeated dust samples, an indoor mold problem may be suspected," he said. Water indicator molds such as Ulocladium, Chaetomium and Stachybotrys spp. were found in only two of the 800 air samples and five of the 100 dust samples using MEA media, on which "certain molds that indicate indoor mold problems grow better," Worthan said. "These species of mold are rarely found in non-problem homes." To conduct the study, 50 single-family detached homes built after 1945 in the Atlanta metropolitan area were selected, and visual assessment verified that there was no known water damage or visible mold growth exceeding one square foot. Then, once in the summer and once in the winter, a series of 17 samples was collected at each home. For each seasonal home visit, an SAS air sampler was used to collect samples two samples in each of three specific rooms indoors and one outdoor sample taken 50 feet from the front door. One final sample was taken inside each home during both seasons: a composite sample of settled dust. "Air samples taken from a vast majority of the homes in this study had at least 50 percent of leaf-surface fungi. So, if repeated air samples from a home yielded less than 50 percent leaf-surface fungi, then an indoor mold problem is suspected," said Worthan.

Worthan's presentation at the Third Annual Aerias Symposium, which lists all of the 30 most prevalent molds by sample, is one of several papers available on a CD that can be ordered at www.aerias.org.