To Whom It May Concern,

You will get many opinions and most of them will be without merit due to inherent conflicts of interest and/or misinformation for whatever reason.  We need to think about the consumers and the effect the con-artists have on real estate sales and clogging the courts with really sad lawsuits.  Please read Dr. Ritchie Shoemaker's new book, "Surviving Mold".  It can be found at: www.survivingmold.com  I wrote some glowing things about the way Virginia regulates.  Please don't let me down.

We all need licensing.  Please review the contractors and consultants who have made comments and see who is legally registered to do business in VA while they are doing business in VA and try to use company names outside of VA.  I can supply names to save you time.  It actually proves my points.

1)  All inspectors and mold remediation supervisors should be certified with the ACAC or any organization accredited by the CESB (www.cesb.org) for that work. 

2)  Workers are a problem due to high turnover and should not be licensed.  For workers, you can say certified by ACAC, IICRC or have AHERA training or similar training since they are taught how to use PPE, avoid cross-contamination and some environmental laws.  I no longer do any contracting but, the last few years I used asbestos workers as I supervised them. 

3)  Insurance is important.  No one should be doing work they are not insured to do for a minimum of $1,000,000.00.  Unless the company or person is professionally insured for microbial investigations, no one should be doing any professional acts which are excluded in the general commercial liability policy for testing, inspecting, giving opinions, writing a scope of work, etc.  The American Counsel of Accredited Certifications (www.acac.org) has good information about this fact and they list companies carry insurance so the public can judge for themselves.  Insurance carriers look at each company's standard operating procedures, redacted reports and redacted contracts to assess legal risk.  Insurance carriers can do the heavy lifting to protect the consumers since the insurance carriers may have to pay damages.  This saves the state government valuable resources in tough economic times. 

4)  Conflicts of interest:  VA has a form used in asbestos and lead regulations that could be used for mold remediation.  The consumer should sign the form waiving the right to complain as long as the form adequately tells them the dangers.  The inspectors and contractors should be made to keep a copy on file 5 years since I have had lawsuits that take that long to reach deposition. Electronic copies would be fine with today's technology.  Insurance is very important.

5)  Please make ACAC the testing resource for licensing whether someone has a certification though anyone else since the ACAC has testing specific for indoor microbial problems. A CIH still needs to show they have some command of the subject matter beyond having skimmed a few pamplets while really being and expert in chemistry or other areas of industrial hygiene.  The tests are college level tests which will show if the inspector or supervisor really has command of the subject material.

6)  There is wording in the regulations for asbestos and lead contractors where a licensee can lose their license for failing to report a situation they know is illegal.  We need the same thing with mold.  I can't tell you how many structures have asbestos and lead.  The mold remediation contractors could care less many times as they are chasing dollars.

7)  To protect the consumer, all reports should state (a) why the mold situation is a concern, (b) what is the water source that allowed the mold condition, (c) how to correct the moisture problem or engineer to consult, (d) what labs were used with actual lab reports, (e) a scientific literature source to base their opinion or, (f) the professional experience or academic source for the opinion.  Consultants should not be able to claim the Myxomycetes from the outdoors in low numbers is cause to run for the hills while a landlord lose's a tenant and incurs major expenses unfairly for a second home away from his job.

8)  Please don't listen to the claims of consultants getting sued for not taking enough samples.  Virginia is a model state for personal injury claims that other states could use.  I have done plenty of plaintiff work.  I can tell you a person better have some really good evidence to sue and get a judgement.  My former clients were awarded the largest mold damage lawsuit for personal injury in Virginia.  Most of their 1 million plus award was for actual damages.  This is why we need to protect the consumers with licensing and insurance.

Thank you for your time,

Greg Weatherman, CMC

aerobioLogical Solutions, Inc.

Arlington VA 22202-2018

Licensed Class A Contractor/Asbestos