The Indoor Air Quality Association (IAQA) and Indoor Environmental Standards Organization (IESO) have joined forces to facilitate the "timely development" of industry standards. Under a recent agreement approved by the boards of directors of both organizations, IESO has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of IAQA. Both organizations retain their non-profit 501(c)(6) status and independent boards.
IESO is an American National Standards Institute (ANSI)-accredited standards development organization. Since 2006, IESO has created several standards project committees, each pursuing the development of an American National Standard. At least two IESO draft standards are expected to be released for public comment this year.
"We are optimistic these standards will be ANSI-approved by year's end," IESO Secretariat Kristy Lee said. Lee will retain her position under the acquisition agreement.
IAQA is an association whose 4,000 members include an almost equal number of IAQ assessment consultants and IAQ remediation contractors. Benefits such as publications, local chapters, and an IAQ convention and exposition have given IAQ professionals a common ground to exchange information and research.
"By expanding IAQA's scope into the standards development arena, it creates remarkable opportunities for members -- benefits ranging from standards themselves to training opportunities to recognition by the world of IAQA members' ability to set parameters for maintaining healthy indoor environments," said Andrew Äsk, IAQA President.
IAQA and IESO sought to craft their new relationship such that it would cause little or no interruption to IESO's ongoing activities. Under the terms of the agreement, IESO's accredited standard operating procedures have not been modified, nor has the constitution of the IESO Standards Development Committee and its Consensus Body been altered.
"Legal counsel on behalf of IAQA and IESO presented details of the transaction to ANSI officials, who told us their staff has no concerns related to IESO's continuing status as an ANSI-accredited standards developer," IESO President Steven Canter said.
Since 2006, IAQA has been IESO's primary source of funding and volunteer support. "Making IESO an integral part of IAQA helps ensure that our members' investment in dues, volunteer time, and association resources will pay off in the form of credible, scientifically based standards for IAQ practitioners," said Glenn Fellman, executive director to both IAQA and IESO.
IAQA Official Provides Additional Comments
In an interview with GBI, Fellman provided the following additional comments about the merger:
GBI: How will the indoor environment community and its advocates benefit from this merger in a way that they would not have been able to benefit had the organizations remained independent?
Fellman: It is possible that IESO would not have been able to survive long-term without this merger. Certainly, without it, IESO would have made progress at a much slower rate. IESO has been solely dependent on IAQA for funding since 2006, applying for funding grants on a year-to-year basis. The merger guarantees funding to IESO on a long-term basis. Equally important, the merger eliminates IESO's need to retain professional management services since those are now provided within IAQA's internal structure. This allows the IESO volunteer leadership to shift its focus from the day-to-day operations of the organization to the actual work of creating industry consensus standards.
GBI: What information can you tell me about the standards that will be produced from this group in terms of what the primary recommended requirements would be, where they're currently at in the standards-making process, when the standards likely be finalized, and how many people or projects would likely be affected?
Fellman: IESO has submitted as many as 10 Project Initiation Notices to ANSI, each signifying the intent to develop an individual standard. About half of these projects are under way with two nearing the public comment phase and one or both of these likely to be submitted for ANSI approval in 2010. Depending on the nature of the standard being developed, the number of people affected could range from several thousand to hundreds of thousands. For instance, IESO and the Restoration Industry Association are currently working on a joint standard relating to the removal of soot and fire-related contaminants from mechanical systems after a structural fire. This standard, once approved as an American National Standard, will have applicability on every fire-restoration project performed, affecting hundreds of thousands of people.
A complete list of IESO standards project descriptions, and project status can be viewed at http://www.ieso.org/standards/index.asp?committee=1.
GBI: What will be the strategy for getting local jurisdictions to adopt these standards? About how much money is available in the IAQA budget to implement this strategy?
Fellman: The standards produced by IESO will be American National Standards approved by ANSI. As such, they stand a significantly greater likelihood of being adopted into municipal, regional, and national codes and regulations. IESO and IAQA have reached out to other organizations, thereby increasing the recognition IESO standards will have in the marketplace. The current budget for standards-related activities is mostly allocated to standards development work. With the first IESO-ANSI standards likely to be published in late 2010, funding for promotion and regulatory awareness is primarily a 2011 expense.
GBI: What statistics, if any, can you share about how much of a problem indoor environmental quality in buildings is to support the need for standards?
Fellman: We've heard the statistics from [the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency] for more than 20 years: people spend 90 percent of their time indoors and indoor air can be five to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air. The problems associated with indoor air are indisputable. What are sorely lacking are science-based standards that can be applied to identify and correct these problems. That is the essential mission of IESO -- to serve as a non-profit organization dedicated to the creation of consensus-based standards that provide solutions for healthy indoor environments.
