Press Release: Florida's Mold: In the Eye of the Hurricane

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All Press Releases for September 1, 2005

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Florida's Mold: In the Eye of the Hurricane

Tallahassee's building assessment and remediation stakeholder

meeting puts Florida in the forefront of the national mold debate.

Tallahassee, Fla., August 30, 2005 -- The national mold storm's eye

has moved over Florida's Department of Business and Professional

Regulation (DBPR). At Governor Jeb Bush's request, a series of

meetings by industry stakeholders are taking place with the goal of

shaping the regulatory and legislative landscape for the assessment

and remediation of mold.

Mold is a major global issue and has become a multi-billion dollar

industry with repercussions in health, education, construction,

legal, and real estate. Nationally, powerful lobbies have moved

quickly to protect their interests, which have resulted in several

state agencies enacting mold policies or legislation that have, in

many cases, abandoned the consumer.

Florida has long been on the front lines of the mold battle.

Hurricane Katrina, with its enormous devastation on a dozen states,

will cause havoc for years to come as a result of the latent mold

and bacteria that will not be professionally identified or

remeidatied. Just last year, a single insurer had over 250,000

insurance mold claims filed. All of those claims were the result of

water damage from hurricanes. A year later, many of those prior

claims have resulted in legal action against contractors and others

due to poor workmanship and lack of standards during the mold

remediation processes. With the DBPR's latest actions, Florida is

moving into the forefront of the national mold debate by actively

engaging in addressing its regulatory shortcomings.

Ed Ziegler, Business Development Manager with Pure Air Control

Services, Inc. attended last week's building assessment and

remediation stakeholder meeting in Tallahassee. " Much of the " mold

is gold " crowd has been operating under the radar of regulatory

agencies within Florida's state boundaries as unlicensed

contractors, " said Mr. Ziegler. " These unmonitored operations have

resulted in too many consumers and businesses being fleeced. "

Florida's legislative past efforts have included two different mold

bills. The various industry lobbies were in full tilt and heavily

influenced both bills. The first bill in 2004 did not come to a vote

before the legislative body. This year, the second attempt at a mold

bill passed both the Florida House and Senate only to be vetoed by

Governor Bush in June. The Governor felt the bill was too vague in

some areas and would have an adverse effect by placing an

unreasonable burden for reputable firms currently providing services

to Floridians.

" The various industries that have a vested interest in the

assessment and remediation of mold and/or indoor toxins are having a

hard time finding common ground, " said Alan Wozniak, President/CEO

of Pure Air Control Services, Inc. " In the indoor environmental

quaility (IEQ) industry's current state, professional experts have

difficulty defining what IEQ is, what " mold " is, whether it's toxic,

pathogenic or ubiquitous, what the health risks for occupancy

exposure levels are, what is normal for bioaerosols, investigation

and remediation protocols, procedures, clearance criteria,

qualifications of personnel who provide these services, … and the

list goes on. "

Last week's meeting in Tallahassee focused on mold assessment. The

Governor's special counsel, and DBPR's CLIB Executive

Director Tim Vaccarro moderated the meeting. The attendees were

comprised of individuals from construction, contractor,

environmental, legal, education, and special interest groups.

Associations represented at the workshop included: American

Industrial Hygiene Association, Indoor Air Quality Association,

American Society for Safety, Environmental Solutions Association,

among others. The more vocal inputs were provided by the diagnostic

sciences and construction industries that are both pressing

for " control " over mold issues.

Diagnostic sciences professionals are requesting more stringent

qualifications for assessors and suggesting independent third-party

testing for clearance of remediation projects. Their interests

include broadening the issue beyond mold to other microbiological

contaminants, which will recur if not addressed properly.

Construction industry pundits requested they be allowed to address

mold issues within the scope of their trade. They contend the

current problem has been exacerbated by unlicensed contractors and

not by reputable, licensed contractors. It was suggested that

qualifications of persons addressing mold issues should credit

experience, and that special training should be prescribed to assist

the trade professionals. They were opposed to the expansion of the

issue beyond mold and believe that expansion beyond the current

scope of mold as described in the most recent legislative bill would

provoke another gubernatorial veto.

Most who attended the stakeholders meeting did agree that licensed

contractors should address mold issues, and that persons managing

mold projects should receive more education and training.

More meetings are scheduled in the coming weeks and a new

legislative bill is slated to be introduced during the legislature's

next session. The task before the Florida legislature, DBPR,

Governor, and industry stakeholders is great. Nationally, federal

and state legislative bodies and agencies are closely watching the

developments in Florida.

About Pure Air Control Services:

Pure Air Control Services is interdisciplinary indoor environmental

consulting firm providing IEQ consulting services to city, county,

state and federal governments, school boards and the private

sectors. They have an in-house American Industrial Hygiene

Association (AIHA) accredited environmental diagnostics laboratory

providing environmental microbiology/microscopy services as well as

building/HVAC system remediation services. Pure Air Control Services

family of IEQ services includes: Environmental Diagnostics

Laboratory (EDLab™) www.EDLab.org; Building Health Check

www.BuildingHealthCheck.com; Building Remediation Sciences

http://www.pureaircontrols.com/buildrem.html. Contact can be made at

email protected from spam bots; www.pureaircontrols.com; Phone 1-800-

422-7873 ext 802.

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CONTACT INFORMATION

Alan Wozniak

PURE AIR CONTROL SERVICES

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800-422-7873

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