Revised 14/7/06.

Architects, Forensic Architects & Mechanical Engineers:

The biggest risk for Architects, Forensic Architects and Mechanical Engineers today is litigation from a new or newly remodeled building that is believed to cause ill health and lost productivity.²⁷ This problem is so pervasive that NOVA²⁸ and other producers have covered this topic in TV documentaries more than once since 1995. Sick buildings cost American businesses $ 60,000,000,000 per year in lost productivity and broken computers²⁵! The solution to this incredible problem has been estimated to cost annually only $ 4.8 Billion, with an `initial average economic simple payback of 1.6 years!<sup>25.1</sup> This is a serious, chronic problem that is growing rapidly in the public's eyes with new focus on molds. See www.policyholdersofamerica.org, from our `Links' page, for what can and is happening.

We provide a low cost assessment that can sidestep future litigation and other problems with our discreet "baselining" prior to building use or occupancy. This knowledge of the actual chemical, biological, radiological, and physical condition is the best defense against future litigation, and constitutes due diligence and concern for how clients' value your work. It quantifies HVAC operation & performance, and generates data that can reveal future design improvements in environmental and energy efficiency. These are also consistent with the proposed O.S.H.A. rule for non industrial work places.²⁵ These also follow the same logic as environmental real estate audits after the fact but is much more beneficial.

Over the last 2-3 decades, our field investigations have revealed the near non existence of residential homes that begin to comply with anything even close to a structure that is optimized for good health, illness minimization for the healthy, nor design/build standards and practices that would produce such a structure. For the myriad of folks who are impaired with transplants and illnesses linked to harmful environmental exposures, the situation is very pathetic given what low cost, complementary services the profession of Industrial Hygiene could supply for designers and owners. Our investigations of up scale and plat homes we assess for harmful substances, reveal such poor IAQ that our clients frequently flee, even though they were designed and built 'green' and less than 6 months old! This explains the recent development of so many web sites such as www.hadd.com. Click on `Links' above for details. Ask what our assessments have revealed from monitoring for chemical, biological, radiological, and physical problems using published Scientific monitoring methods. We IHs are appalled because such exposures are easily preventable

We also can assist in the identification of certain building, coating, and material failures with appropriate analyses to assist Forensic Architects. This includes subtle contamination after use even though the building may still be in good structural condition. It also includes gross contamination from misuse and criminal activity, such as extensive biological damage from illegal crop growing, manufacture of drugs and outright, malicious contamination from toxics or accelerants. We can also provide assessment of old, dangerous building materials including, but not limited to: lead, asbestos, radon, pesticides, leaking underground storage tanks, underground plums migrating into a building from the same, and preservatives in wall coverings and (CCA) wood products.

For long term protection of the A/E firm, we can write a plan for subsequent day to day maintenance operations and building control policies that will eliminate risks of future contamination buildup, poor IAQ and litigation. This is an area of growing importance as the level of competency of `building engineers' diminishes as the complexity of designs grows. Many of these folks have reading and writing skill deficiencies that can come back on designers but disappear with our training. Do you have serious questions about a building management firm? Are they cutting too many corners for you too? Call to discuss our list of offending companies, their M.O.s, and what to do. These folks can and do create greater problems with building occupants' health and the `lack' of IAQ complaints and action. These folks have been known to employ unethical I.H. services to generate bad information and data to fool those with IAQ complaints. This is more a lot more expensive and risky then solutions from an independent, competent firm. To protect yourself, call for our list of such firms and what they should be doing if they were legitimate, (303) 421-3383

It is very important for Architectural firms to have a disclaimer to deal with construction in certain places. Such a disclaimer will protect against the ever growing incidence and awareness of dangerous environmental conditions that are getting more and more ubiquitous. Ask for details and our assistance in this area too, including our records' search of risky areas from environmental databases and GIS.

B.O.M.A.s, Nursing Homes & Hoteliers:

Were your facilities constructed to minimize your exposure to SBS litigation? Think asbestos, lead, odors, mold & bacteria, etc. Temperature swings are a strong indicator of the presence of other different problems, including wasted energy and added sicknesses. Do you have an independent assessment to verify that you actually got what you paid for? Do you have a written IAQ plan? Do you suspect the presence of controlled or regulated, hazardous substances, not just asbestos & lead? Does it actually comply with the appropriate A.S.H.R.A.E. standards for ventilation set down by the design Engineer? Do you suspect the designer, builder, or others cut corners saddling you with big, intrinsic problems? Does it have complaints of poor IAQ? Has it ever been used as a drug lab and in need of confidential testing? Does it contain important things other than people, such as museum treasures or other valuables that need special care? Department of Labor studies in the middle 1990s assessed the losses of sick buildings cost American businesses $ 60,000,000,000 per year in lost productivity and broken computers²⁵! The solution to this incredible problem has an estimated annual cost of only $ 4.8 Billion, with an `initial average economic simple payback of 1.6 years!^25.1 Doesn't it follow that optimized office space would rent easier, longer, and faster?

Nursing homes can present special problems for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that inspections from the regulatory agencies fail to address important issues, e.g., indoor air quality, and the fact that most of the victims cannot complain because of illness or employment fears. However, these are still sources of risk for nursing home owners and operators. We have the keys to protect their assets. These start with a written IAQ management plan, proper funding, granting authority to facility managers to bring in an IH consultant. Our services in this area too reduce operation costs, energy consumption and enhance quality of life which increases the number of patients and reduces employee turnover.

Hoteliers: Mold and bacteria are now getting a lot of attention from the legal community from huge law suits that cost millions of dollars plus attorneys' fees. Scientists are far more loved and less expensive than attorneys & litigation, and they solve important problems, not just ascribe culpability! Our low cost, proactive, assessment and optimization, baselining services; establish existing levels of potentially harmful substances that reduce your bottom line. The powerful, low cost tools of Forensic Chemistry also reveal bad designs, and will disclose building defects long before they get serious & expensive; and are your best protection from litigation. Environmental optimization not only reveals potential problems for timely, cost saving repairs, but the resulting extra pleasant environment increases your customers' loyalty and word of mouth promotion of your hotel. We travel to your site world wide.

Nursing homes can present special problems for several reasons, not the least of which is the fact that inspections from the regulatory agencies fail to address important issues, e.g., indoor air quality, and the fact that most of the victims cannot complain because of illness or employment fears. However, these are still sources of risk for nursing home owners and operators. We have the keys to protect their assets. These start with a written IAQ management plan, proper funding, granting authority to facility managers to bring in an IH consultant. Our services in this area too reduce operation costs, energy consumption and enhance quality of life which increases the number of patients and reduces employee turnover.

With published, reproducible, scientifically valid methods we quantify and identify initial, baseline levels of chemical, biological, radiological and physical conditions the owner or building manager needs to know to minimize risks and protect assets, as well as: `Take the wind out of future complainants' sails'. Our reports identify the best plan of action for improvements, optimization and litigation minimization. After the fact, our recommendations guide your maintenance crew to save time, costs, enhance morale, and protect your exposure to litigation. They also reduce use of toxic substances in the everyday maintenance of your building. We provide such analyses for schools, homes, nursing homes and non industrial workplaces that allow responsible parties to start focusing on those conditions that are most risky so they can be eliminate in the most cost efficient manner. For bigger problems our findings can be the basis to make necessary increases in budgets. We solve tough IAQ problems that may seem to defy analyses and baffle others - discreetly.

We understand that those in charge day to day are frequently underestimated in knowledge, ability, as well as under funded. We give `Building Engineers' the needed questions for building owners and managers to improve funding and respect, that have been forgotten or ignored. This includes minimization of risks of massive, rapidly growing litigation from newly realized problems from mold and bacteria contamination.³⁰

Our monitoring & assessment services go way beyond a building engineer's job description, saving money, time, and energy, by making problems disappear; and make you look like a savior, increasing your promotability. If you think you have gotten questionable information on controlled materials such as asbestos, lead, radon, mold, especially from a regulatory agency, you need to have us evaluate your risks of having bad or inadequate information.³¹

Our evaluation starts with questions and information for management that will make them realize your real needs and their liabilities, and protect your position. We can determine with hard data if a complaint is true or psychosomatic or real. We have found complainants not crazy, just fed up of being ill, prior to litigation, but those in charge wouldn't listen. Call to discuss your options and how & where to start. We know that buildings are created from large, one time budgets that disappear when construction is finished-even if they create big problems from bad designs.

Building & Home Inspectors, Including Civil Engineers:

Your biggest downside risks are oversights of a toxic or deleterious substance or environmental condition. You have two choices: Buy expensive E & O insurance, which will make you less competitive with higher fees; or recommend our services in these special circumstances. When you recommend our services to your clients, your liabilities go away permanently. We can write verbiage for your report free, or it can include something like: "Upon inspecting your premises we highly recommend additional evaluation from an independent Professional Industrial Hygienist, as the presence of (gas stations, industrial facilities, dry cleaning businesses, with potential leaking underground storage tanks; structural floors, or suspected mold; suspected asbestos, long term wetting, pesticides, radioactivity; very environmentally sensitive people; or________, {select})". This is iron clad protection of your interests that maximizes your income, minimizes risks, while enhancing your credibility and professionalism. We can work with your firm symbiotically to identify your clients' special problems, and eliminate your risks of oversight, and provide you with a much more professional & lucrative inspection service.

Folks just do not understand the complexities, dynamics, and diversity of environmental contaminates. Such as solving expansive soils problems with structural floors but creating a new, much worse problem from mold and bacteria. We suggest inspectors, including Professional Civil Engineers, address things that can lead to concerns identified in current electronic and print media as clients tend to over focus on `current, popular news. Folks can become unhappy and worse, later, if they think they have been ignored and an unrelated problem occurs thereafter.

Currently, the hot topic is wetting and mold, especially in new construction with structural floors that solve problems with expansive soils, while attention to radon and lead is waning. Inspectors who see conditions that include wetting, for more than 72 hours; warmth; and food (crawl spaces littered with construction materials) have to expect mold and bacteria. Low cost mold test kits can sometimes be use prudently to verify the need for additional industrial hygiene services. If visible mold is present then mold and bacteria need remediation first followed by I.H. monitoring, to verify degree of clean up. Levels of mold, known to be dangerous, as well as many other problems, can be far below the threshold of smelling and sight. Levels of bacteria, easily monitored at the same time, can reveal the presence of hidden sources of broken sewage pipes and other important problems. Heed clients with long term complaints as environments that otherwise appear clean may be anything but. This is important advice for owners of built environments within 3 kms of gas stations, dry cleaners, and certain industrial operations, government and military facilities, and others: See the next paragraph.

We feel the next `hot topic' will most likely be dangerous and/or explosive levels of vapors of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in buildings of all kinds that migrate in from underground solvent plumes originating from old, sometimes distant, industrial facilities, dry cleaning establishments, and the usual gas stations. See: www.denverpost.com for the front page article on 6 January, 2002. These are all ticking time bombs for all involved in property, property transfers, lending and inspections. These same precautions apply to long forgotten landfills, which we also excel identifying.

Carpet Cleaners and Disaster Restoration:

Carpet, fire, flood and disaster remediation firms use our services to get their job done right the first time. Our services identify the scope of needed clean up as well as risks of dangers that can be present, even if users have particular environmental sensitivities. We can quantify degree of clean up after the fact, identify undiscovered problems hidden by the original mess, and answer the question: Was remediation successful and thorough enough to minimize medical insults including mold & bacteria, fire residues, chemicals, pesticides, lead, carbon monoxide, asbestos, and any other contamination. We establish this level of protection with a body of hard analytical data. This also protects your firm from accepting blame or responsibility for other unrealized contaminates, natural events that might have caused a recurrence, previous inadequate or sloppy work of others, and when the client fails to follow directions. We sometimes can provide very cost effective solar solutions for certain kinds of situations.

Did the insurance underwriter^26.1 or adjuster put a `Band aid' on your problem(s) to minimize their costs? Good science has powerful analytical tools to quickly and easily identify complex claims problems as well as how to proceed towards a fair decision. The importance of changes in mold claims coverage and development of data from their assessment are finally being realized for what they are: Not often killers in and of themselves, but an important part of total human exposure(s) with important medical consequences. Environments, good or bad, never have only one important problem. Adequate remediation for one group of problems may be inadequate for other(s) present but unknown. We have found very substantial oversights on the part of other `assessors' as well as those who choose to ignore medically important contamination because they are Below Regulatory Concern (BRC) or they simply do not wish to spend a little more money on necessary remediation they know someone else will be pay instead. Beware, we have found the latter to be all too common. Folks with compromised health or respiratory systems, including asthma, are becoming more and more prevalent. Populations of mold always include populations of bacteria that compete with each other and are hence very dynamic in both numbers and species. Both have to be monitored as both can be harmful and identify both respirable & non respirable, viable types. This will be very important information to a treating Physician now and in the future.

Has your honest, responsible remediation firm been given a bunch of data or other info that you do not understand while being asked to finish their work? Does this look `fishy', or you do not trust the adjuster? Do you wish to avoid serious risks of litigation & losses? Do you need to have those risks clarified? Our analyses of these data & findings are very important to your bottom line, success, perceived professionalism and protection from litigation. Give us a call at (303) 421-3383.