Unravelling Complex Chronic Illness

By Michael Pinto

Indoor air quality is a broad field that continues to bedevil building service professionals. But the shift in focus over the last five years from general concerns such as adequate ventilation and sick building syndrome to mold contamination has caught many service contractors by surprise, particularly when they are asked for advice in dealing with mold growth or blamed for its appearance.

Unfortunately, many contractors are struggling to identify the current best practices in regards to mold – a reasonable way to evaluate potential contamination and implement control measures. With limited time, service managers try to make sense of media reports, liability concerns, and scientific research. As they dig deeper, many have found that media reports are often condensed sound bites, legal cases tend to emphasize the extremes of liability in an effort to win or fend off a claim, and scientific reports are filled with technical jargon or narrow limitations that restrict their application to the real world.

Without good information, positions related to mold situations are inclined to polarize. The extreme positions can be categorized as fungiphobics, those who are frightened by a single mold spore, and those who refuse to accept any possibility of health-related problems due to mold exposure, the mold minimizers.

The first step in developing a reasonable approach to mold is to understand that there is a reasonable approach. [Read more...]