14C — November 23 - December 13, 2018 — Construction Management/Design Build — ODM — M id A tlantic
Real Estate Journal
www.marejournal.com
Construction Management/Design Build
et ready! In less than 2 months, NYC Local Law of 2018, A.K.A. By Lee Wasserman, LEW Corporation NYC Indoor Asthma AllergenHazards inResidential Dwellings &Pest Management goes live Jan. 19 2019! G
labor law requires licensing and minimum work standards for professionals engaged in mold assessment and remediation. There are three main com- ponents to the law. Training: The mold program will protect consumers by requiring con- tractors to obtain appropriate training prior to being licensed to perform mold assessment, remediation, or abatement ser- vices. Licensing: Contractors will not be allowed to advertise or perform covered work with- out the required license, with limited exceptions. For exam- ple, home or business owners performing work on their own properties. Minimum Work Standards: The mold program also establishes new minimum work standards for mold as- sessments and remediation activities by licensed profes- sionals, including: 1)Protection against fraud by prohibiting the performance of both the assessment and remediation on the same property by the same individual; 2) Protection against fraud by requiring an independent mold assessor to define the scope of the remedia- tion work; 3) Identification of disinfectant products, consis- tent with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards; 4) Provision of personal protection equipment to employees, as necessary; 5) Posted notice of the project and the contractor's licenses; and 6) The completion of a post-remediation assess- ment. This means, beginning Janu- ary 19, 2019, when a NYC mul- tifamily property owner has to correct an indoor mold hazard violation or assess/correct an indoor mold hazard identified as a result of an inspection by the owner, such assessment and remediation work shall re- quire both a NYS licensed Mold Assessor AND a NYS licensed Mold Remediator. Both par- ties (Assessor & Remediator) are required to comply with NYS mold licensure law. NYS Mold Assessor and Remediator certifications can be obtained at www.NAETI.com. My recom- mendation: Don’t wait to get a few members of your staff trained! The indoor allergens, mold and pest, are to be regulated be- ginning 1/19/19, whether initi- ated by complaints of residents, annual owner required visual inspections, lease turnovers, or NYC inspections. What should continued on page 24C
last year, when the bill became law. Now that we’re only days away, I think it’s critical to re- view some of the key highlights and challenges to be faced when complying. Just to be clear, this law, effective January 19, 2019, applies to ALL multiple- dwelling property owners who are now going to be responsible for investigating and remedi- ating indoor allergen hazards like mold, mice and rats, and cockroaches in multiple dwell- ings, (Exemptions may apply to NYCHA and Coops & Condos). In this article, we’re going to focus on some of the new law’s requirements and challenges.
What makes this law’s com- pliance challenging is that NYC is asking us to manage Mother Nature. It‘s hard to beat nature, but it is possible to handle one of its occurrences: indoor mold (another bad, four-letter word). The new law requires protec- tion against indoor asthma & pest management. This discus- sion is going to concentrate on the mold component, not the pest management. What are some of YOUR new responsibilities and how can you avoid their very sensi- tive and potentially litigious outcomes? First, education is critical! Someone is going to
need to properly communicate moisture intrusion andmold re- lated events to your residents. Secondly, because this new law’s definition of Remediation/ Remediate (above) specifically requires compliance with Sec- tion 27-2017.9, which demands, in section B., correcting an indoor mold hazard violation or assessing/ correcting an indoor mold hazard identified as a result of an inspection by an owner, such assessment or work shall be performed in compliance with article 32 of the NewYork State (NYS) labor law and any rules promulgated thereunder. Article 32 of NYS
NYC Indoor Asthma Al- lergen Haz- a r d s i n Residential D w e l l i n g s a n d P e s t M a n a g e - ment , goes live January
Lee Wasserman
19 2019! It will require ad- ditional time and education, with more responsibilities and certifications, some of which are not so easy to consistently man- age. We first introduced this
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