Safety Info on Toxic Mold

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Safety Info on Toxic Mold

Signal - Santa Clarita,CA

Commentary by Betty Seldner

http://www.the-signal.com/?

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Often you will read on a Material Safety Data Sheet or in a

government regulation that " immediate notification " is required if a

certain amount of a particular chemical is released.

According to the Legislative History of the Superfund Amendments and

Reauthorization Act of 1986, the notification should not exceed 15

minutes after the person in charge has knowledge of the release.

Immediate notification requires shorter delays whenever practicable.

That notification should then be followed by a written notification

as soon as practicable.

Knowledge according to the EPA means both actual and constructive

knowledge of each circumstance as would ordinarily lead upon

investigation, in the exercise of reasonable diligence.

EPA's penalties start after the written notification is received by

the state emergency response commissions and the local emergency

planning committee and are submitted no more than seven calendar

days following the release.

Last year the concern of building and home occupants was asbestos.

Most of that has been removed, sealed or incased and is under

control.

Now building occupants focus their attention on " toxic mold. "

As usual, California took the lead in legislation and was the first

state in the union to pass a Toxic Mold Protection Act of 2001,

which required the state Department of Health Services to present a

study on the feasibility of establishing a permissible exposure

limit for indoor molds.

The DHS could not comply as it would be too difficult to establish a

PEL because of inadequate toxicity data and the wide variety of

molds. Molds are fungi, a nonplant, nonanimal living organism in the

same category as yeasts and mushrooms.

Here are some of the symptoms humans could experience when they

exposed to mold: respiratory sensitivity and allegories; severe

effects on asthma patients; lung infections in immune compromised

patients; and in some liver and kidney damage.

Mold needs moisture to grow and OSHA has some guidelines to prevent

its growth.

Some of those include: Visual inspections for evidence of mold,

routine leak checks of windows and door seals; venting moisture

generating appliances, combustion appliances, kitchens, bathrooms

and other damp areas to the outside.

Also, regular inspections of ventilation for damp filters and

general cleanliness; preventive maintenance for ventilation

components; and isolation of areas under renovation are all advised

by OSHA.

OSHA advises if mold is found to eliminate the source of moisture;

remove all visible mold making certain workers are protected from

inhalation and skin exposures. If mold is visible from the outside

of the building, check for contamination beneath the surface.

All this advice is in OSHA's Compliance Advisor, November 2006.

Federal OSHA's booklet on mold can be downloaded from

www.osha.gov/Publications/preventing_mold.pdf.

If all else fails, call in the experts, the yellow pages list many

of them.

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Betty Seldner is president of Seldner Environmental Services,

specializing in environmental training and site assessments. She can

be reached at 255-6427. Her column represents her own views, and not

necessarily those of The Signal.