Mid Atlantic Real Estate Journal — Owners, Developers & Managers — March 28 - April 10, 2014 — 21B
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G REEN B UILDINGS By Lee E. Wasserman, LEW Corporation Mold, Mold & More MOLD!
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Michael Shaw Chief Operating Officer Goodwill Industries of Southern NJ & Philadelphia
I f you think Mold is a four letter word that is losing its luster, you re-
related illnesses. Dr. Bennett lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. During which time she col- lected samples of the mold from impacted properties. During collection of samples, Dr.Bennet expressed that she immediately felt ill, despite wearing gloves, a mask and protective gear. The dizziness, headaches and nausea she experienced made her open to the possibility that small amounts of mold can harm people! “The odor just made me feel horrible, and I thought, ‘Aha!’ Maybe there’s some- thing in these gasses,” said
Bennett “I became a convert.” From that research, she and her colleagues had located a chemical emitted by mold that gives fruit flies the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. More and more research is docu- menting adverse health effects attributed to molds as well as benefits. Unfortunately, if you do not have a very well managed mold program and quickly address your moisture intrusion events, this four let- ter word will invite unneces- sary litigation, fines, penalties and violations once the states begin to pass laws, currently continued on page 22B
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Hurricane Sandy memories still current and mold litiga- tion is on the rise. So what does this really mean to you as a property manager or owner? It means if you do nothing you will be setting yourself and your organization up for a BIG LOSS!! If you do not have a current and easy to follow, well writ- ten Mold Operations & Main- tenance Program, you better get one quickly and assure its compliance. CDC, after getting financially sequestered in 2012 thru 2013, now has a healthy budget and currently has a bid on the street designed to find out the current status and enforcement of mold legisla- tion/regulation in the States affected by Superstorm Sandy. The expectation is that the CDC Bid will recommend vari- ous mold laws to be drafted for multiple states, so get ready now!! Several states, already have mold laws and if you are not aware, both houses of NJ (Senate & Assembly) have passed a mold bill (NJ Assem- bly 1588 )that went to Gover- nor Christies desk to only get a pocket veto due to end of session. The bill is still alive and still has LOTS of legs, es- pecially since the after effects of Hurricane Sandy are still seen and felt daily along the coastal areas, whereby keep- ing lots of pressure on the state to institute a NJ Mold law. I can assure you what happens in Jersey DOES NOT stay in Jersey. Mold legislation will follow all around the country, as will Mold related litigation. “Mold can really put people at risk and cause breathing problems and everything else,” said Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey chapter of the Sierra Club. “So to have stan- dards to make sure it’s done properly would really make a lot of sense, .......” Rutgers University’s mold expert Dr. Joan Bennett who historically had been a skeptic of “sick building syndrome” is now a BIG believer in mold
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