Indoor Air Quality Solutions, IAQS

The Law States that

“At the time of application, have at least 3 years of experience as a mold assessor or mold remediator. To establish the 3 years of experience, an applicant must submit at least 40 invoices for mold assessment or mold remediation prepared by the applicant.”

So…..

Is the Law asking for an applicant to have 3 years of experience and provide 40 invoices to establish the 3 years?

OR

Is the Law asking for the applicant to have 3 years experience OR submit 40 invoices over any period of time that could be as little as 6 months?

You make the Call……………..

Go to the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation to see the full Law.
http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/pro/mold/grandfathering.html
• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

In an effort to protect the citizens of Florida, Florida Governor Crist signed Mold / Inspection legislation House Bill 713. The law regulates the Mold Inspection industry.

The Florida Mold Law is significant in the protection for our Citizens from untrained mold inspectors with in adequate training and experience.

1468.8423 Grandfather clause.
A person who performs mold assessment or mold remediation as defined in this part may qualify to be licensed by the department as a mold assessor or mold remediator if the person meets the licensure requirements of this part by July 1, 2010.

The “Grandfathering by Experience” option is what I wanted to discuss today and most importantly I wanted to get as much feedback as possible.

You see the interpretation of the 3 years of experience has become a grey area for some.

The confusion is with the statement “At the time of application, have at least 3 years of experience as a mold assessor or mold remediator. To establish the 3 years of experience, an applicant must submit at least 40 invoices for mold assessment or mold remediation prepared by the applicant.”

The argument by some is that the statement above (verbatim from the law as shown below) is an either or statement. Either you have 3 years experience or you provide 40 invoices.

This is an excerpt from a recent blog post where I was informed that the Law requiring 3 years experience was not necessary. The individual posted “Experience equates to 40 invoices based on Mr. Morrison’s statement can be accumulated without any specific time-frame, meaning someone could have their 40 invoices going back only 6 months and still meet the experience requirement.” What????

It may just be me but what are these guys reading? The statement is clear. 3 years experience. The invoices are to establish the 3 years.

The intent of option 2 is to not deny anyone the right to continue in their profession if they have been conducting mold assessments prior to the enactment of the new law.

Any applicant would simply need to establish 3 Years of experience.

The law isn’t asking the applicant to simply submit 40 invoices. That isn’t establishing 3 years of experience at all is it?

That would be an interpretation of convenience and one that misinterprets the intent of the law. Wouldn’t it?

The Law clearly states verify 3 years of experience.

So now I ask the readers to chime in with their opinion of what the intent of the Law is. Does it require 3 years of experience or simply 40 invoices with the time frame of the invoices unimportant???

To truly protect our citizens and ensure the Law isn’t simply another State Fee for small business we need to send a message to our legislators that we care. We care about how the Law we worked so hard to enact is enforced and applied.

The grandfathering requirements are clear and easily obtainable for applicant’s perusing either option. Both options are listed below verbatim from the States website.

http://www.myfloridalicense.com/dbpr/pro/mold/grandfathering.html

GrandfatheringThe requirements for grandfathering as amended by House Bill 713 include submission of an application to the department by March 1, 2011, whether postmarked or delivered by that date. Applicants must meet the following licensure requirements:

Option 1 • Certification by a state or national association that requires successful completion of a proctored exam for certification and completion of at least 60 hours of verifiable education for an assessor and 30 hours of education for a remediator;

or

Option 2 • At the time of application, have at least 3 years of experience as a mold assessor or mold remediator. To establish the 3 years of experience, an applicant must submit at least 40 invoices for mold assessment or mold remediation prepared by the applicant. The department may investigate the validity of a mold invoice and, if the applicant submits a false invoice, may take disciplinary action.

•John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
•Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
•Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
•www.Microshield-ES.com

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/10/11/c586468/florida-public-adjuster-calls-for-property-owner-diligence-research-aft#ixzz14cKDiwku
(via COMTEX News Network)–

Some have called this weeks Florida gubernatorial election may have been a referendum on the economy, but it could also potentially signal a potential paradigm shift for one of the most important issues in the state: insurance regulation and rates. Rick Scott will move into the governors mansion in two short months, and when the state legislature convenes early next year, policyholders can expect to see a big impact in both their property insurance policies and their checkbooks, according to the Florida-based public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates.

The licensed and certified public adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates, with offices throughout Florida and licenses in nine other states as well as the U.S. Virgin Islands, say one indicator of what some might call the broken insurance system in Florida is the fact several major insurance companies say they are losing money. On the other hand, one insurance provider, Homeowners Choice, just declared a dividend and is trying to acquire other insurance companies. What does this weeks gubernatorial election mean for them?

The insurance industry has been whining and complaining and calling for change because they claim theyve been losing money, says Dick Tutwiler, founder and CEO of the Florida public adjuster firm, Tutwiler and Associates. Well, they got what they wanted. Governor-elect Scott is on record as saying hes in favor of the deregulation of the Florida insurance market, and that means big changes for policyholders.

Tutwiler has 37 years of insurance experience in the state of Florida and he says hes believed from the beginning the 2010 election was going to be a game changer with regard to the possible effects on Florida policyholders. He points to Governor-elect Scotts corporate background and pro-business philosophy as a major indicator that not only will Scott deregulate the insurance industry, but doing so will benefit insurance companies because it will enable them to drive their prices up. As it stands now, Tutwiler explains, an insurance company has to go to Tallahassee and argue why they want to raise their prices.

Deregulation, however, changes everything.

Right now, there are a lot of consumer protection regulations, but that could all change once the insurance industry is deregulated, says Tutwiler. Is deregulation going to be good for consumers? Well see, but now is the time for the general public to pay attention, be diligent regarding any insurance news coming out of Tallahassee and let their representatives know where they stand on the issues.

For more information, please visit http://www.PublicAdjuster.com.

About Tutwiler and Associates: Tutwiler and Associates is a firm of public adjusters licensed in 10 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands specializing in commercial and residential property loss adjusting. With well in excess of $113 million in client success stories over a 27-year history, the Florida public adjusters work exclusively on behalf of policyholders to help them achieve the maximum settlement amounts they can fairly and honestly recover based on their loss and their policy provisions. Professional help from the adjusters at Tutwiler and Associates can help clients obtain a fair recovery under their policy. The Gulf Coast based public adjuster firm is committed to public service and strives to educate its clients about commercial and residential windstorm and hurricane losses, flood damage, fire, smoke and water damage, collapse, hidden decay and mold losses, sinkholes, loss of stock, and business interruption.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/press-releases/10/11/c586468/florida-public-adjuster-calls-for-property-owner-diligence-research-aft#ixzz14cK5UvjC

• John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
• Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
• Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
• www.Microshield-ES.com

ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2010, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, sets minimum ventilation rates and other requirements for commercial and institutional buildings.

“Since first being published in 1973, the standard has provided the basis for ventilation system design throughout the industry,” Roger Hedrick, committee chair, said. “The 2010 standard furthers ASHRAE’s work in ensuring acceptable indoor air quality, while also heeding the need for energy efficiency as we strive to find ways to help designers tailor ventilation system designs to each particular application.”

Among the changes to the 2010 standard are modifications to the Natural Ventilation Rate Procedure, which now requires most buildings designed to meet the natural ventilation requirements also include a mechanical ventilation system designed to meet the Ventilation Rate or IAQ procedures. The mechanical system is to be used when windows are closed due to extreme outdoor temperatures, noise and security concerns.

“Most buildings using natural ventilation in the United States are high-rise residential buildings that often have no form of outdoor air intake other than operable windows,” Hedrick said. “This results in buildings with inadequate ventilation, because occupants often leave the windows closed in order to run the air conditioning, keep out noise, etc. The committee felt it needed to strengthen the existing prescriptive requirements to ensure adequate ventilation and their corresponding IAQ benefits are available to occupants.”

Another change relocates requirements related to exhaust systems to a new section, clarifying that exhaust requirements apply to all buildings regardless of the procedure used to determine outdoor air intake flow rates.

The IAQ procedure, which allows for the calculation of the amount of outdoor air necessary to maintain the levels of indoor air contaminants below recommended levels, has been made more robust by increasing requirements for using the “similar building” design approach and clarifying other requirements.

“The standard now contains, in informative Appendix B, a table of volatile organic compounds that designers might want to consider as possible contaminants of concern,” Hedrick said. “To encourage designers to consider ‘additivity’ when applying the IAQ Procedure, some guidance from the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists has been included.”

The cost of Standard 62.1-2010, Ventilation for Acceptable Indoor Air Quality, is $69 ($59 ASHRAE members). To order, contact ASHRAE Customer Service at 1-800-527-4723 (United States and Canada) or 404-636-8400 (worldwide), fax 404-321-5478, or visit http://www.ashrae.org/bookstore.

ASHRAE, founded in 1894, is an international organization of some 50,000 persons. ASHRAE fulfills its mission of advancing heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration to serve humanity and promote a sustainable world through research, standards writing, publishing and continuing education.

John P. Lapotaire, CIEC
Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant
Microshield Environmental Services, LLC
www.Microshield-ES.com
www.CFL-IAQ.com