IAQ Radio

Anthony “Tony” Havics, PE, CIH - Coronavirus, Respiratory Protection, Disinfection & Testing; Facts vs. Fiction!

This week on IAQradio+ we are going to have an in depth discussion on appropriate PPE, disinfection and testing options for those dealing with Coronavirus projects. Tony Havics has put together a terrific meta analysis of respiratory protection information and has also been putting together information on these other topics. Tony is one of the most respected industrial hygiene pros in the industry and we look forward to an informative discussion on how pros should be handling these issues.
Mr. Havics is an Honors graduate from Georgia Institute of Technology with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mechanical Engineering and is a registered Professional Environmental Engineer (PE) with over 25 years of experience. He has provided front end investigation, development of plans & specifications, development of work plans, cost estimation, and oversight of numerous facilities for remediation, refurbishing, or decommissioning including a launch pad, dam gates, a baseball stadium, a tire factory with 59 buildings, a biologically contaminated L1011, a hospital, JP-6 fuel tanks, former mental institute, former military buildings, etc. In the field of microscopy, he has performed analysis for asbestos, contaminants in products, other minerals, fibers, fungi, engineering properties, and has testified in federal court as an expert microscopist. Andrew has also performed failure analysis and forensic testing on numerous building products such as roofs, windows, flooring, drywall, piping, etc.

Howard Brickman - Hardwood Flooring from the Tree Tops to the Roots: An Intimate Fireside Chat with an Industry Trailblazer!

This week the Moisture Mob returns for the 5th show in the series by delving into the Hardwood Flooring sector of the industry and exploring how moisture impacts the installation, use, warranty and life of installed hardwood flooring. The Restoration Global Watchdog says, join the Z-man and Radio Joe for an intimate ‘fireside chat” show with Howard Brickman, a pioneer and trailblazer in the hardwood flooring industry!
 
Howard was a charter member of the NWFA (wood flooring association) and served for years as the manger for inspections and school services for NOFMA  (oak flooring association). He has consulted on or been contracted for many high profile custom installations such as as the Great Hall in Boston’s famous tourist attraction Faneuil Hall. Howard is a self described, “Carpenter-in-Overalls” and served as a technical consultant for the well known home improvement TV show with Bob Vila called, “Home Again”.
Hardwood flooring adds significant value and beauty to a home or commercial space. True hardwood flooring (compared to manufactured wood or simulated flooring, sometimes referred to as “was wood”) can be the most common use of an oak tongue and groove to exotic imported wood varieties from the Amazon. The US Department of Agriculture Forest Products Laboratory publishes a map of the United States showing the variance in moisture content in hardwood flooring based on time of year and climate zone.
Knowing how moisture affects hardwoods based on the type of substrate used, time of year installed and acclimation time required can make the difference between the success or failure of the project. How are finishes affected by a water intrusion and what techniques are used to access the damage and decide if a floor can be restored or must be replaced?
What kind of considerations should a property owner be aware of regarding full refinishing or “screening” a blistered finish on a hardwood floor affected by flooding or simply from high humidity conditions such as an unattended vacation residence? Can severe cupping or crowning of the boards be corrected  with specialty drying techniques or “tricks of the trade” and what about those “black” marks around the nails, are they permanent? What is the useful life of a hardwood installation and how many times can it be refinished?
This week IAQradio+ listeners will hear answers to these questions and other issues addressed involving the installation, use, restoration considerations from water damage and how this high value item gives the building’s decor warmth and atheistic beauty unlike any other finished flooring!  Pete Consigli  opines, with most of the world in social isolation and getting “cabin fever”, why not call in live this week to hear Cliff and Joe banter with Howard Brickman, an icon in the hardwood flooring industry!

The Financial and Business Impact of COVID-19 on: The Cleaning, Restoration & Building Science Industries!

Guest Round Table Panel: 
Ed “The Restoration Lawyer” Cross, RIA Advocate
John Downey, CIRI Executive Director
Andy Ask, P.E., IAQA Past President
Richard “Rick” Sims, Johnson Air Conditioning
This week on IAQradio+’s on-going coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic we will cover the financial and business impact the international crisis has on the cleaning, restoration and building science disciplines affecting the IEQ community and the many related industries that fall under that broad umbrella! Lately the economic impact of the rapid global spread of the virus has dominated the 24 hour news cycle.
Although a diligent need to practice sound health and safety precautions for personal hygiene in conjunction with social distancing by limiting the size of group interaction, the heightened financial concerns affecting society have contributed to the anxiety of the world’s population.
In that context please join IAQradio+’s growing group of loyal listeners this week as Radio Joe,the Z-man and the Restoration Global Watchdog interview a guest panel from the cleaning, restoration and building science industries to discuss in a round table format the issues affecting their business operations and the financial impact to their collective constituencies.
Issues addressed will answer questions on how to manage the risk when dealing with infection control and cleaning projects against the spread of COVID-19, what types of contracts and “warranty” language should or should “not” be used with customers, what are the science based protocols that should be used and where do you find the best practice documents to help educate your staff and customers?
What is the thinking behind postponing or cancelling a conference, convention or symposium? What impact is considered when offering refunds or credits towards a future event and how have hotel contracts, event venues, travel cancellations and mandated restrictions by the government and company policy affected the decision making process?
After the angst of ones health and safety concerns are accepted, the impending impact of laying off employees or worker’s concerns about “catching the virus” due to their job can be as big an issue for companies to grapple with as the threat of getting sick!
Call in live this week as Joe, Cliff and Pete engage in a lively and honest conversation on how the industry is addressing the issues affecting us all beyond just the health concerns. The societal impact of how business can weather the COVID-19 storm and remain financially solvent will be discussed this week on IAQradio+.

William Thornton - Flooring Confidential: The Underbelly of Cradle to Grave from Manufacture to Installation & Use!

This week's show in the Moisture Mob series is with one of the Flooring Industry leading experts based in the Atlanta Georgia metro area. William Thornton is the North American Technical Manager for Tarkett Sports. Originally from the Kansas City metro area where William made his bones in the flooring industry, his career has spanned almost four decades in all aspects of the industry from installation, manufacturing, specifications, consumer complaint handling, technical training to standards writing for industry installation guides.
 
This week will focus on the indoor air quality aspect of flooring in the built environment from the off gassing of VOC's in materials and adhesives to the impact trapped moisture creates when improper moisture measurement are not done prior to installations. 
 
How do these issues affect the product user, building occupants and why is it important to understand best practices when specifying flooring materials, installation guidelines and making warranty claims which impact purchasing decisions based on the intended use and application.
 
The Restoration industry traces its roots to flooring from the early days of drying wet carpet on site to today's sophisticated methods for drying saturated concrete. Floors get affected on just about every water intrusion event based on the simple principle of gravity and water flows down 
to horizontal surfaces.
 
Understanding how floors are installed, affected by moisture and the manufacturing warranties for a product's specifications are an important aspect of IAQ consultants, restoration contractors and remediation specialists when assessing damage or investigating IEQ complaints.
 
Join Radio Joe, the Z-man and the Restoration Global Watchdog this week for a unique Moisture Mob interview exploring the underbelly of Flooring Confidential, with industry expert and unique personality William Thornton! 

Dave Mason & Tom Peter - From the Trenches: Education on Cleaning & Disinfecting During Epidemics

This week on IAQradio+ we go in the trenches with restoration principles that are responding to the Coronavirus outbreak in real time. Two of our favorite restoration experts Dave Mason and Tom Peter, CIH join us today to discuss their perspective on education, cleaning and disinfecting during the current pandemic.
 
David Mason is the Senior Consultant, and President of Atlantic Restoration Services, providing disaster recovery services across the United States. Atlantic offers complete building and contents de-contamination services, and repairs property damage. He is a consultant for forensic building investigations, litigation support and for property damage restoration, and is a qualified professional for arbitration, subrogation, appraisals and court proceedings. Atlantic Restoration has Command Centers with warehouse facilities, along with contents processing plants, in Atlanta and West Palm Beach.
 
Tom Peter, MS, CIH is the CEO of Insurance Restoration Specialists of East Brunswick, NJ. Tom has supervised just about every type of hazardous waste, indoor environmental quality, mold remediation, water damage restoration project there is and all while in the shoes of a Certified Industrial Hygienist. His vast experience in the field and education make him the go to guy in the restoration world for issues like the Coronavirus pandemic.

Alan Zelicoff, MD - Coronavirus Questions and Answers

This week we welcome Alan Zelicoff, MD for a discussion of how to respond to an epidemic/pandemic. We will start with an update and resources for listeners, then we will play back our interview from earlier this week with Dr. Zelicoff. Our focus was on how a proper response should work and how the world is responding to COVID 19. Dr. Zelicoff has a unique perspective on the topic, he also joined us to discuss H1N1 and Ebola when those topics where front and center.
 
Are we ready for the next Plague?
h1n1 Fact vs. Fiction
Ebola Issues and Answers
 
Alan Zelicoff is a physician (board certified in internal medicine 1992, clinical fellowship in rheumatology, 1983) and physicist (A.B., Princeton, 1975), who has had a varied career including clinical practice, teaching, and operations research. In the latter roles, he was Senior Scientist in the Center for National Security and Arms Control at Sandia National Laboratories from 1989 to 2003.
Dr. Zelicoff’s interests include risk and hazard analysis in hospital systems and office-based practice, and in technologies for improving the responsiveness of public health offices and countering biological weapons terrorism. Dr. Zelicoff has traveled extensively in countries of the former Soviet Union and has led joint research projects in epidemiology of infectious disease, while establishing Internet access at Russian and Kazak biological laboratories. He is the author of numerous text book chapters and articles in these subjects, and is a frequent contributor to Op-Ed pages in the Washington Post and other newspapers. Dr. Zelicoff’s book on this subject is: Microbe: Are we Ready for the Next Plague? Available on Amazon.

Open Mic - Invited Participants: John Lapotaire, Mike McGuinness, Jack Springston, Don Weekes & John Downey

This week we welcome an all-star panel, John Downey, John Lapotaire, Jack Springston, Mike McGuinness and Don Weekes for an Open Mic show. For the first half of the show we will talk about some industry current events and conferences. For the second half we'll take a look at the Coronavirus and how that issue may affect our industries. Finally, we'll open it up for any other thoughts or current events our listeners are interested in.

John T. Hull - Roofs, Moisture Meters, Inspections & Solutions for Leaks: Lessons Learned from an Industry Veteran!

This week on Iaq Radio+ we welcome John T. Hull. John has over 25 years in the roofing and coatings industries. He is a recognized authority on roof restoration and moisture detection within the roof and building envelope. Mr. Hull has provided technical support, training, and consulting in over 30 Countries. His expertise in roof restoration has contributed to roofing projects at NFL stadiums, airports, universities, hospitals, military bases and even the White house.
"Introduction of the Moisture Mob"
 
The last week of October in 2019 IAQ Radio's own Z-man and Restoration Global Watchdog attended a Technical Symposium on Moisture Detection and Measurement in Dublin, Ireland. The symposium was hosted by Tramex, Ltd the global leader and innovator of high quality precision moisture meters for the building envelope and construction materials.
 
Cliff Zlotnik and Pete Consigli collaborated on a presentation on the History of the Water Damage Restoration and Drying Industry. Other notable industry Subject Matter Experts (SME's) who were invited to present on the technical aspects of the symposium theme were Mickey Lee and Lew Harriman. Mickey and Lew have both been interviewed multiple times over the years on IAQ Radio prior to the symposium and are well known with the show's audience.
 
During the symposium Cliff and Pete got to meet other subject matter experts from the restoration, flooring, roofing and related fields hailing from the US, UK and the EU who were in attendance at this invitation only event. Tramex CEO Andrew Rynhart served as the Symposiarch  (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/symposiarch) presiding over the proceedings and coordinating hand selected SME's to present to the global invitees and Tramex management on their area of expertise.
 
Last November 22nd Andrew was interviewed on IAQradio followed on December 6th by one of the SME's Cliff and Pete heard present in Dublin on concrete. Robert "Bob" Higgins is a leading authority on the properties, characteristics and performance of concrete from its mix ratio, pour, curing process, use as a substrate for floor coverings, to trouble shooting moisture related problems with concrete used in buildings and structures.
 
The Z-man's blog for Bob's podcast was tag lined "Fact or Faction"! In that spirit and in the hallmark and tradition of IAQRadio's unique style and personality, Cliff, Joe and the Restoration Global Watchdog would like to introduce the "Moisture Mob" (MM) to the industry!
 
The Moisture Mob is an informal network of recognized subject matter experts from a variety of related disciplines who are passionate about disseminating accurate information to the industry on how moisture impacts materials and environments.
 
The MM's purpose embraces an "esprit de corps" epitomized in their motto, "Truth and Accuracy in Moisture Measurement...or Face the Consequences!"
 
The consequences of unchecked moisture and humidity in the built environment and building systems and materials can result in product failure, installation problems, uncomfortable living conditions for building occupants and microbial growth and mold which has deleterious effects to the structure and occupant health.
 
In addition to Andrew Rynhart and Bob Higgins other "MM" charter members yet to be interviewed from the Dublin Symposium on IAQradio are Hardwood SME Howard Brickman from Boston, Sports Flooring SME from Atlanta, William Thornton, Flooring Inspector Extraordinaire Roland Vierra from the San Fransisco Bay Area and this week's guest John T. Hull, Roofing SME.
 
Spring boarding off Andrew and Bob's podcasts and blogs, IAQradio will do a series of four shows over the next several weeks with the Moisture Mob. This Friday on Valentine's Day, please join Radio Joe, the Z-man and Restoration's Global Watchdog for an interview with John T. Hull, a sunshine state resident like fellow MM member Bob Higgins. Florida often characterized as "humidity central" is home base for John hailing from the Florida peninsula's gulf coast. John's Moisture Mob's theme for the show will be,"Roofs, Moisture Meters, Inspections & Solutions for Leaks: Lessons Learned from an Industry Veteran!"
 
LEARN MORE this week on IAQ Radio+!

J. David Miller PhD - The New Green Book & The FACTS on Mycotoxins

This week on IAQ Radio+ we welcome J. David Miller, PhD. back to IAQ Radio+ for a discussion on the newly revised AIHA Green Book "Recognition, Evaluation and Control of Indoor Mold" and an in depth discussion of mycotoxins. Dr. Miller received his secondary education at the University of New Brunswick, before studying at the University of Portsmouth in England, where he was also a NATO Science Postdoctoral Fellow. He began his post-university career at Agriculture Canada in 1982, and became head of the Fusarium mycotoxin program in 1988. He became a Professor & NSERC Research Chair at Carleton University in 2000. From 1999-2008, he was a visiting scientist and science advisor in the air health effects section of Health Canada. His work involves the development of methods to assess exposure to determinants of respiratory health in indoor environments and on fungal toxins in food and feed. Dr. Miller has published >350 papers on fungi and fungal toxins and has co-written 10 books on the public health aspects of exposures to fungi, and has several patents. He has served on many national and international committees on mold and dampness in the built environment. He is a fellow of the American Industrial Hygiene Association.

Frank Mortl III, CAE & Phillip Rauscher MPH, CIH, CSP - ACGIH Ex. Dir. & Dir of Science & Education on TLV’s, Bioaerosols and More!

This week on IAQ Radio+ we welcome ACGIH Executive Director Frank Mortl III, CAE  and Director of Science and Education Phillip Rauscher MPH, CIH, CSP.
 
As Executive Director, Mortl is responsible for providing guidance and support to the Board of Directors while leading ACGIH®’s team of professionals who are committed to serving a membership that strives to deliver critically important industrial hygiene knowledge along a wide spectrum of topics ranging from air sampling instruments, bioaerosols, biological exposure indices, industrial ventilation, as well as threshold limit values (TLVs®) for chemical substances and physical agents.
 
Mr. Rauscher is the ACGIH Director of Science and Education. He worked previously as an Industrial Safety Hygienist at the State of Ohio-Division of Safety and Hygiene. He worked primarily in the field performing comprehensive industrial hygiene and engineering surveys to anticipate, identify, evaluate and control airborne contaminants, noise levels and heat/cold stress. He also assisted employers of various industries with development of safety programs and implementation of best practice guidelines. He also worked with stakeholders to educate employers on common hazards in the workplace and compliance with federal and state law through development and implementation of both classroom and online training as well as publicly available educational materials.
 
Mr. Rauscher earned his BS degree in Public Health with a minor in Chemistry from Youngstown State University. He went on to earn his MPH in Environmental/Occupational Health from the University of Toledo. He since has earned a graduate certificate in Quality Management Systems from Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, Ohio. In addition to his MPH Mr. Rauscher is a Certified Industrial Hygienist CIH and Certified Safety Professional CSP .