The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) released the second edition of their S500 document at the organization’s recent annual meeting in Las Vegas, Nev. IICRC S500, Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Water Damage Restoration, is a dramatic improvement over the 1994 edition in terms of both content and form.

The S500 book is divided into two sections – a procedural standard formatted to specifications of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and a guideline divided into tight little chapters that compliment the standard’s requirements. New information within S500 addresses complex issues like microbial contamination and worker safety. The document also contains several provisions designed to prevent water damage from leading to IAQ trouble.

Reaction to the new document has been positive from representatives of the cleaning and restoration industry.

“After learning about S500 at the WLI conference, our technicians immediately began implementing its provisions into our daily work,” said Daniel Greenblatt, ASCS, President of Envirotech Clean Air Inc., a company that specializes in the HVAC system restoration end of water damage restoration. Greenblatt isn’t alone in his enthusiasm–within two weeks of its printing S500 was presented to rave reviews at three industry forums: the IICRC annual meeting, the Water Loss Institute (WLI) 4th Annual Conference & Exposition, and Connections ‘99.

“We’ve seen a fantastic response to S500. Three thousand copies are sold already and it’s been on the street less than a month,” said Larry Cooper, chairman of IICRC’s Water Damage Restoration Standards Task Force, the committee responsible for producing the document.

Problem Protection

The IICRC standard divides water damage contamination into three categories. Category 1 water presents the least concern and includes, “water originating from a source that does not pose substantial harm to humans.” Category 2 water contains contaminants that have, “the potential to cause discomfort or sickness if consumed by or exposed to humans.” Examples given include chemical, biological and physical contaminants. Category 3 water is “grossly unsanitary water” originating from sources such as sewage and rising water from rivers and streams. 

Remediation efforts specified in the document are dependent to a large extent on the category of water damage associated with a particular situation. S500 devotes a lot of attention to quickly addressing water damage, controlling contaminants, and preventing even more serious indoor environmental difficulties. IICRC emphasizes throughout the document that category 1 and category 2 water will rapidly deteriorate to category 3 water quality if not treated expeditiously. According to S500, “the importance of a timely response to any water damage is necessary to prevent progressive material damage, amplification of microorganisms and to minimize potential adverse health effects.”

According to Cooper, “S500 sets the standard for category 1, 2, and 3 water damage losses. It’s a very important document for the water damage restoration industry because it clearly defines each step of the restoration process. The processes defined in the standard are based on testing that was performed to find better ways to mitigate water damage losses. S500 truly reflects the best known science in restoration.”

New Microbial Sections

Perhaps the greatest improvement to S500 is the new edition’s guideline chapters on biological contamination. The first chapter, Microbiology Associated with Water Damage, provides an easy-to-understand primer on microbes, a basic overview of microbial ecology, and a discussion of how water damage activity affects microbial amplification.

The second guideline chapter, Health Effects Associated with Microbial Contamination, reviews the kinds of infectious diseases, bacteria and fungi commonly linked with each category of water damage and the implications of human exposure to each. Biocides and Antimicrobials, the third new guideline chapter to address microbial issues, gives a description of each classification of biocide available, addresses risk management and efficacy issues, and covers site-specific application methods.

The microbiology chapters are supplemented with an appendix to S500 on the regulation of pesticides. This 13-page section was prepared by a law firm but is written in layman’s language. In addition to the inclusion of many new requirements and information, another major difference between the 1999 edition of S500 and its 1994 predecessor is the use of ANSI format styling in the standard section of the document.

Cooper believes insurance industry professionals will use the document. “We set a standard that protects people in their environments. Insurance companies sell insurance to help bring properties back to original condition. To achieve that level of restoration, we hope the insurance industry will recognize the document’s benefits and use it to train their own adjustors to understand damage situations, especially catastrophic situations,” he said. Cooper noted that S500 training programs for insurance professionals are currently available.

S500 is available for $35 from IICRC. Call (360) 693-5675 or go to www.iicrc.org.