IAQ Radio

Robert “Bavarian Bob” Blochinger - One Man’s Professional Journey to Carve a Niche for Flooring Forensics in the Cleaning & Restoration Industry!

This week IAQradio+ brings our growing and loyal group of listeners another unique show in the Moisture Mob ongoing series. Bob Blochinger is a fierce advocate for flooring forensic experts specializing in third party evaluations and oversight of complex installations. Bob’s early career from New York City with roots in the restoration field eventually lead him to South Florida which started an interesting journey over the past 3 decades to dealing with moisture and humidity related problems and how it affects flooring installations and a buildings indoor air quality.
Bob’s experience dealing with a wide range of projects from a diverse customer perspective including, contractors, building owners and managers, manufactures and distributors, lawyers and other stakeholders involved in flooring, moisture and IEQ related projects has shaped his life experience. Through the many lessons learned by Bob and hisgroup of national experts they fill an important role when an objective third party opinion is required to troubleshoot problems and find solutions to complex claims!
Join Radio Joe and the Z-man this week as they engage with an interesting and unique figure from this important industry niche who lists Brooklyneze as one of three languages he is fluent in on his social media profile! The Global Watchdog said in helping arrange this Moisture Mob show, “You can take the kid out of Brooklyn, but you can’t take the Brooklyn out of the kid!”. Call in live this week for this engaging and provocative interview!
Bob was raised in New York City, working in the family construction business. He moved to Florida for college, majoring in business management and worked seasonally in the hospitality industry. He began his career in the flooring industry in 1970, offering carpet cleaning and installations while specializing in water and fire damage restoration work. In the early 1980’s he expanded into the retail department store sector providing installation of floor covering sales. During the 1990’s his company started to service the architectural and interior design trade with high-end floor covering product sales and installations for residential, commercial and industrial applications. In 1990, Bob attended Southern Tech GA, specializing in technical training for carpet manufacturing and inspection. This started his career in forensic review of floor covering products that have a negative impact on performance, appearance and/or use. He is a multi-discipline flooring consultant. Bob also works as an expert witness, inspector and investigator for law firms, condominium associations and flooring manufacturers. He consults for flooring projects on bid package formatting and review, installation supervision and maintenance procedures. Bob’s oversight consultation assignments often require moisture testing of concrete for public works projects and private corporations tracking major installations from the retail store to the manufacturing facility.

Francis “Bud” Offermann, MSME, PE, CIH - Ventilation, Air Filtration, and COVID-19, “Avoiding the Snake Oil Salesman”

This week we welcome back Francis “Bud” Offermann for a discussion of ventilation, air filtration and COVID 19 Avoiding the Snake Oil Salesman. Mr. Offermann is president of Indoor Environmental Engineering, a San Francisco based IAQ consulting firm. Prior to starting up Indoor Environmental Engineering, Mr. Offermann was a Staff Scientist with the Building Ventilation and Indoor Air Quality Program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has been a recipient of research grants regarding building air quality and ventilation field studies, tracer gas techniques, contaminant emission rate measurements, and performance testing of air cleaning devices. 
 
Mr. Offermann served as an expert witness for the U.S. Federal Trade Commission regarding the performance claims found in advertisements of air cleaners. He also provided consultation to the American Home Appliance Manufacturers (AHAM) during the development of AHAM Standard AC-1, which is used to measure the Clean Air Delivery Rates (CADR) for portable air cleaners. He was also a past chairman of ASHRAE TC2.3 and SPC-145 committees for gas phase air filters and a corresponding member of ASHRE TC2.4 and SPC-52.2 for particulate air filters. Mr Offermann will discuss the impact of air filtration on indoor airborne concentrations of SARS-CoV-2, including what types of air filtration work and what types pose potential health risks. LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Wynn L. White, PE - Effectively Managing Restoration & Remediation Projects: Lessons from Cajun Country

This week we welcome Wynn L. White, PE for a discussion on managing large restoration and remediation projects particularly after hurricanes and water damage events. Wynn is a second generation civil engineer who got his start working for his father’s engineering firm in Indiana, starting out on the survey crew. He worked his way up to crew chief and, after graduating from high school, earned his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Purdue University.
 
Wynn’s early work included a variety of civil engineering projects that included water, wastewater, subdivision layout, and road projects. Wynn went on to become a licensed sewage treatment plant operator, where he learned what really works (and what doesn’t) for his future projects. Wastewater brought Wynn to Louisiana in 1980. Wynn is the only person who’ll ever admit he was carried south by sewage. Wynn incorporated his own firm in 1987. Since then, he has worked on hundreds of environmental projects and has been the principal-in-charge on over 2,000 projects. When the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act (AHERA) was passed, Wynn knew schools across Louisiana would need help conducting their asbestos inspections and developing asbestos management plans. So he embarked on a whirlwind tour of the state to offer services to schools. As a result, his firm conducted more asbestos inspections and developed more asbestos management plans for schools than any other firm in Louisiana. 
 
In the early 2000’s, mold related litigation made national headlines, bringing about rarely before seen emphasis on mold and moisture problems. Wynn positioned the firm as a regional leader in helping clients manage mold and moisture problems, and avoid and solve construction defects and building enclosure problems. Wynn is a Registered Professional Engineer (Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas) and has been a at many prestigious events including the Annual Westford Symposium on Building Science AKA Summer Camp. Mr. White has also served as an expert witness in numerous legal cases and brings a real world perspective to his thoughts on managing restoration and remediation projects.
 
LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Alan P. Zelicoff, MD - COVID 19 Prevention, Treatment, Vaccines, & Lessons Learned

This week we welcome back one of our favorite medical contributors and epidemiology of infectious disease expert, Dr. Alan P. Zelicoff MD. Dr. Zelicoff has been educating the IAQ Radio+ audience about biological weapons and infectious diseases since 2008. The first show we did in 2008 was on Microbes: Are We Ready for the Next Plague, followed by shows on Ebola, H1N1 and COVID-19.
 
Disclaimer :Dr. Zelicoff has agreed to help us by researching and commenting on current events related to COVID-19. His opinions are not individual medical advice but rather opinions from someone that has been warning the world for years this pandemic was coming.
 
Dr. 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. His 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.
 
LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Paula Olsiewski, PhD - Contributing Scholar Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security - HOMEChem: House Observations of Microbial and Environmental Chemistry

This week we welcome Paula Olsiewski, PhD for an update on the HOMEChem project and a discussion about her new position at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. In her new position she will be focused on COVID and indoor air quality. Dr. Olsiewski is a Contributing Scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. She is a pioneering leader in policy and scientific research programs in the microbiology and chemistry of indoor environments
 
During her 2 decades at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, she led innovative and multidisciplinary programs that inspired, accelerated, and produced lasting impact. Her expertise in partnering with academic, governmental, and for-profit stakeholders fostered innovation and built research capacity through the creation of diverse stakeholder networks. Her accomplishments include the creation and direction of the microbiology of the built environment, chemistry of indoor environments, and biosecurity programs.
Dr. Olsiewski is recognized as a leading expert in biosecurity and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is Chair of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Homeland Security Research Subcommittee and is a member of the EPA Board of Scientific Counselors Executive Committee. She is also a member of the NTI|bio Working Group for Biosecurity Innovation and Risk Reduction Initiative and Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in chemistry.
 
Dr. Olsiewski’s acumen in board governance, recruitment and development, and fundraising has helped both scientific and philanthropic organizations improve their operational efficacy and programmatic outcomes. Early in her career, Dr. Olsiewski was Vice President of Product Development at Enzo Biochem and President of Neo/Tech Corp. She is an active board member of the Critical Path Institute, an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the drug development and regulatory process. She is also Vice Chair of the Spondylitis Association of America and was board chair of Asphalt Green—a not-for-profit organization in New York that encourages a lifetime of participation in sports and fitness.
 
Dr. Olsiewski received a PhD in biological chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). As an alumna, she was a member of the MIT Corporation and President of the MIT Alumni Association, earning her the association’s top honor: the Bronze Beaver award. Dr. Olsiewski was a member of MIT’s Initiative for Faculty Race and Diversity Advisory Committee and is an advocate for diversity and ongoing supporter of MIT's Women in Chemistry. She also received a BS in chemistry, cum laude, from Yale.
 
LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Best and Worst Things of 2020 – Rauscher, Sloan, Lapotaire, Springer, Downey, Shaughnessy, Pearson, Grillo, Krell, Morrison, Brueggemann

This week we welcome representatives from our sponsors to participate in a special 1.5 hour year end "Best & Worst Things of 2020" show. IAQRadio+ could not continue to be on every week for over 14 years without the support of our sponsors. Please join us today as a way of thanking them for helping us continue to provide education and communication for our industries. LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Jay Portnoy, MD - A Pioneering Pediatrician’s Perspective on COVID-19 & Mold Health Effects

This week we welcome Jay Portnoy, MD for a discussion on children and COVID plus an update on mold health effects. Dr. Portnoy and the Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City team he started are pioneers in home health assessment. Their work in helping control allergies, asthma and other health issues traced to or exacerbated by conditions in the built environment is some of the most important work being done in our industry.
 
Dr Jay Portnoy is an allergist in the section of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology and Medical Director of Telemedicine at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. He received his medical degree at the University of Missouri-Columbia School of Medicine, and he did his pediatric residency at the Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City and his Allergy fellowship at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Following that he returned to Children’s Mercy Hospital.
 
Dr. Portnoy has published numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals involving asthma disease management, environmental control, mold allergy. More recently he has been involved in evidence-based medicine and Telemedicine and was co-chair of the Joint Taskforce on Practice Parameters. He was co-director of the Kansas University Medical School allergy program from 1985 to 1997 and he founded the UMKC School of Medicine allergy program and directed it from 1997-2006.Dr. Portnoy served as President of the American College of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology in 2008 and he has served on numerous committees both of the American College and the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology as well as on the Allergy/Immunology Residency Review Committee of the ACGME and the American Board of Allergy and Immunology.
 
He lives in Overland Park, KS with his wife and 2 cats. Fortunately, nobody in the family has cat allergy. LEARN MORE this week on IAQradio+.

Lisa M Brosseau, ScD, CIH - Control Banding & COVID-19

This week we welcome Dr. Lisa Brosseau to discuss Control Banding & COVID 19. Control Banding is a popular technique used in industrial hygiene to guide the assessment of workplace risks. Dr. Brosseau, now retired, was a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) School of Public Health from 2015 to 2018, where she was director of the Illinois Education and Research Center, which supported graduate and continuing education for occupational health and safety professionals and community outreach activities. She was also director of the UIC Center for Healthy Work.
 
Dr. Brosseau began her career as an academic researcher and educator at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, where she directed the Industrial Hygiene Program. Her early research focused on the performance of respirator filters when exposed to hazardous aerosols such as silica and asbestos, and later expanded to include biological and infectious organisms. Her more recent research focused on respirator fit, using real-time methods and simulated workplace tasks to better understand how fit is influenced by realistic head and body motions. She continues to serve as a mentor and technical advisor on research projects and for businesses and organizations, including CIDRAP.
 
Dr. Brosseau has authored more than 100 peer-reviewed publications and book chapters, delivered numerous platform research presentations, and has been an invited speaker at numerous local, national and international conferences and workshops. She has written several articles for CIDRAP focused on respiratory protection for healthcare and other workers during outbreaks and pandemics.
 
Learn more at iaqradio.com!

Peter Crosa, David Drinard, John Lapotaire, Ken Larsen, David Popper, Ken Siders - A Post Hurricane Eta Report from the Sunshine State: Perspectives from the Trenches

This week, in an IAQradio+ tradition, we will be having a classic round table format podcast in the open mic “Around the Horn” style with an all star panel of Floridians. Hurricane Eta plagued almost every major region of the Sunshine state for over a week with heavy rain, strong winds and power outages. Severe flooding and wind damage statewide has created a need for mitigation, roof cover-ups, temporary power requirements and a need for restoration and IAQ remedial services statewide. As in past hurricane seasons, these kinds of needs can often bring out the opportunists and national scammers who descend on ravaged regions to take advantage of the vulnerable.
Radio Joe and the Z-man this week with IAQradio+ field reporter, the Restoration Global Watchdog will get feedback from IAQ and Restoration professionals based around the sunshine state, who will report on what is happening on the ground in their region of Florida. Please join Joe, Cliff and Pete calling in from his home base in Southwest Florida’s gulf coast, this week for a lively round table panel in the open mic tradition of IAQradio+!
Learn more at iaqradio.com!

Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D. – The COVID-19 Pandemic, A Unique View from the Left Coast: A Perspective from a Physician with a Law Degree!

This week IAQradio+ looks to the left coast for a conservative’s perspective on the COVID19 pandemic and will interview Marilyn Singleton, MD, JD , a California physician who also holds a law degree.  Dr. Singleton will talk about the intersection of public health, medicine, law and public policy.
The response to a public health crisis can be improved with transparent fact-based communication from government agencies and experts in the field. That conversation should include a variety of opinions in establishing consensus for public policy that serves the need to protect public health while maintaining the civil liberties afforded under the constitution and jurisdictional law.
IAQradio+ prides itself in being the leading forum in providing a science-based approach from research  to practice with a focus on show content related to diagnosing and responding to IAQ issues and remediation protocols.  So please join Radio Joe, the Z-man and this week’s guest for a live interview exploring the  issues surrounding the pandemic from a unique California perspective!
Marilyn M. Singleton, M.D., J.D.
Dr. Singleton is a board-certified anesthesiologist. She is past president of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). She graduated from Stanford and earned her MD at UCSF Medical School. Dr. Singleton completed 2 years of Surgery residency at UCSF, then her Anesthesia residency at Harvard’s Beth Israel Hospital.
While still working in the operating room, she attended UC Berkeley Law School, focusing on constitutional law and administrative law. She interned at the National Health Law Project and practiced insurance and health law. She teaches classes in the recognition of elder abuse and constitutional law for non-lawyers.
Marilyn comes from a long line of trailblazers.  Her grandfather graduated from Ohio State medical school in 1905.  He served the public in Lima, Ohio by taking care of the black population and was active in politics and his community.
Marilyn’s father who was from Virginia, was a flight surgeon at the Tuskegee Army-Air Corps base.  Her mother instilled the spirit of volunteerism – whether the Red Cross or the Urban League.  When Marilyn was in high school, her mother began her career as a social worker.
For more information on this week’s guest: https://marilynsingletonmdjd.com/about/
For more information on AAPS: https://aapsonline.org/