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Final Guidelines for the Protection and Training of Workers Engaged In Maintenance and Remediation Work Associated with Mold 5 such as how a plenum works and how it can impact mold remediation work, is important for mold remediators to understand and should be included in the basic course. • There exists a gradation in mold exposure potential across work categories. On the low end, common building maintenance tasks involve intermittent, low-level mold exposures involving short duration and small surface area projects, and full time mold remediation workers would encounter the high-end exposure potential. In keeping with the premise that protecting people from mold exposure is prudent policy, all of these worker groups require training commensurate with their exposure potential (as defined by the project size, work practice and duration variables). • Unlike lead, mold is not a specific substance and many people are not affected by mold. 2.0 GUIDANCE ON TRAINING DEVELOPMENT 2.1 Basic format and approach The sections in this guidance portion of the document follow the basic format used in the American National Standards Institute standard Z490.1-2001, Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training, which was published by the American Society of Safety Engineers (2001) and serves as excellent guidance for developing training. 2.2 Needs assessment 2.2.1 Characterization of the training audiences Current mold remediation guidelines (including worker protection provisions) generally classify mold work as either "maintenance" or "remediation," based on the scale of the mold work involved. Maintenance tends to be low-level exposure and remediation is often seen as higher level exposure. Maintenance is defined as involving small areas of mold contamination (Levels I and II in the NYC Guide) and includes minor contamination cleanup in HVAC systems (Level V Small in the NYC Guide). Remediation work is assumed to be large-scale, extensive work usually employing a specialized contractor. It may include HVAC system remediation as well as contamination with clean water, grey water ( wastewater from bathtubs, showers, bathroom sinks, washing machines, dishwashers and kitchen sinks, i.e. any source in a home other than toilets) and black water (untreated sewage). There was consensus at the workshops that maintenance workers are generally facility staff personnel and, as such, represent a different training target audience than a typical remediation contractor's employees. Maintenance workers should be expected to come into contact with mold. When they do, they are likely to correct the source of moisture and clean small amounts of mold relative to remediation workers. Ongoing preventive maintenance is very different from removing mold. The two populations can be further differentiated by task, duration, and the size (area of mold contamination to be remediated). Maintenance work is associated with routine tasks performed in one or several specific buildings, whereas mold remediation workers will work under a variety of conditions and in many different buildings over time. Maintenance workers perform a variety of tasks, including tasks unrelated to