Issue link: http://iaqnet.uberflip.com/i/637188
Final Guidelines for the Protection and Training of Workers Engaged In Maintenance and Remediation Work Associated with Mold 6 mold, but mold remediation workers focus on mold removal. Maintenance workers will encounter smaller areas of mold contamination and undertake mold removal far less frequently. Building trades and utility workers are at risk of exposure to mold when they 1) contact mold- contaminated surfaces in the normal course of their work, 2) are in the vicinity of – but are not participating in – uncontained mold remediation or demolition work, 3) are engaged as full-scale mold remediation workers, and 4) are engaged in hazardous waste site cleanup work involving exposures to mold. For these workers, training as maintenance workers is most appropriate. There was a strong counterpoint argument among the experts that there cannot be definition by project size because concomitant health risks have not been identified. The consensus of the workshops was that the current absence of data in both exposure levels and associated health effects require defining hazard potential by the project size, work practice and duration variables. Assessors/consultants are covered, for training purposes, as maintenance. The American Industrial Hygiene Association has created recent guidance that identifies the minimum qualifications and competencies of mold assessors (AIHA, 2004, p.3) and warns that the organization, "does not believe the skills necessary to conduct proficient mold assessments can be obtained through attendance at a training course held over a period of a few days." The minimum qualifications that were stipulated: • Bachelor of Science in industrial hygiene, environmental health, or an engineering, life science, chemistry, or physics discipline; • Two years of experience under the direction of a CIH, CSP, and/or licensed Professional Engineer with significant experience in the following areas: building science, mold assessments, and exposure assessments. At least one of the two years must involve the performance of Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) assessments. This guidance assumes that if mold assessors meet the AIHA qualifications and competencies they will have received most of the training on respiratory protection and other personal protective equipment needed as part of their professional development. Consequently, the recommendation is that assessors and consultants would only need short-duration training, like maintenance staff, not the longer training intended for mold remediation workers. 2.2.2 Characterization of potential exposures and adverse health effects There is very limited published data on exposures to molds in residential, school, and office buildings. There currently are no exposure standards or health effects threshold exposure levels against which to base safe or unsafe exposures and sampling is expensive, time consuming, and difficult to apply. The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH, 1999) guidance provides a comprehensive discussion of sampling and analytical methods for a broad range of microbial agents. There appears to be almost no personal sampling data in the published literature for maintenance or remediation workers engaged in mold-related activities. This means there is presently no way to link specific work practices and tasks to exposures, nor to estimate the effectiveness of exposure reduction techniques. The literature contains limited data on airborne concentrations before and after abatement, but no information on the impact of building maintenance activities specific to mold.