Re: I disagree: Witholding mold sampling results/ was Whistleblower Protection..

July 9, 2007

It totally depends on the situation. I had a tenant client recently

that was concerned about mold in her bedroom. I did a visual / K9

inspection. My dog Trixie signaled at the base of the master bathroom

shower stall. I did some poking around and found clear evidence of

fungal growth behind and under the shower tiles.

The tenant did not have a lot of money, so I offered to only take a

bulk sample of the material at this time. My thinking was,

identification / verification of fungal spores and hyphae would most

likely get the landlord's attention and move him to take appropriate

action.

It worked. Since the tenant trusted me from her experiences with me,

I was officially (ie in writing) " fired " by the tenant and hired by

the landlord to perform a full assessment of the entire home. The

relationship between the two parties was adversarial at best, but they

both agreed that I would be objective in my assessment of the home.

BUT, it was understood that I could not speak to the tenant about

anything without the landlord's consent. I do this not because of who

pays me, but it also protects me. I prefer to have one audience on

cases like these. It's hard enough explaining basic mycology and

remediation standards to one party, let alone multiple parties.

I made it clear to both parties that for me to work on this project,

they would have to be in absolute agreement about what I could and

could not say, about who I worked for, and that I would not sign off

on substandard remediation. The tenant knew I would call the health

department if I did not believe the landlord was acting in good faith.

And the landlord knew I would not help them until the tenant put all

owed rent into escrow.

In another instance, I returned a check to a doctor who refused to

take action to remediate his medical office (stating he has more mold

in his fridge than in his practice - at 3800 CFU/M3 of aspergillus!)

and then called the health department.

I realise that everyone has different standards, but mine is simple:

walk away from every job knowing it was done right, or walk away from

the job.

--- In , LiveSimply <quackadillian@...>

wrote:

>

> I see what you mean.

>

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