NYCHA Staff Train to Become Mold Busters

Over the course of five days, Charles Starks, Assistant Superintendent at Queensbridge Houses North, and Julio Figueroa, Assistant Superintendent at Queensbridge Houses South, joined a group of their colleagues at a special training to learn the ins and outs of inspecting mold, identifying its underlying causes, and using new tools to efficiently identify and remediate mold.

“We learned a lot,” said Mr. Starks. “The training goes into the root causes of mold, which steps to take first, like looking for moisture, and the proper procedures to handle mold, so we don’t have to go back to a unit two or three times. I learned more and different ways to handle mold. I was handling my mold work tickets before, but now I can handle them even better.”

Mr. Figueroa agreed: “It was a very informative class for people in different positions on how to remediate mold, so we can get rid of it forever.”

The training program, which began in January, is coordinated by NYCHA’s new Mold Unit, which manages NYCHA’s new “Mold Busters” program.

NYCHA recently revised its standard procedure for addressing mold complaints and launched Mold Busters, a program to effectively and efficiently remediate mold. In addition to staff training, the program includes new tools, more accountability, a faster timeline for repairs and remediation to be completed, and follow-up inspections after work is done to ensure there has been no recurrence of mold. NYCHA began a citywide rollout of Mold Busters in January, and all developments will have implemented Mold Busters by the end of 2019.

Both Assistant Superintendents were impressed by the new tools that help with mold inspection. Mr. Figueroa said: “The anemometer, hygrometer, these instruments are wonderful because you can check the moisture, check humidity, and check airflow, and now you can actually detect what walls are wet, what walls are dry, and you can tell where the leak is coming from instead of guessing or having to break walls unnecessarily. These tools will definitely help with the timeframe of the work.”

By the end of the Mold Busters rollout, approximately 2,700 staff will receive this training.

“I am very proud of the mold training program we created,” said Marvin Jean-Jacques, Mold Administrator at NYCHA. “We’ve also established a brand-new field training program that enhances and reinforces the initial classroom training by coaching staff step-by-step as they conduct Mold Initial Inspections at their developments. Tools like our Site Observation Report allow us to identify challenges and then provide guidance and corrective action onsite to make certain our inspectors can adhere to the procedure. I believe this training program is an integral step in resolving our existing mold complaints and preventing them from reoccurring.”

The comprehensive training program includes a one-day Remediation class, which teaches the guidelines and requirements for how to safely and effectively clean mold; a two-day Building Science class; and a three-day Mold Inspection class. The hands-on training also includes virtual reality technology, where trainees get to walk through the steps of the standard procedure for remediating mold.

The classes are taught by Environmental Education Associates (EEA), one of NYCHA’s training partners, and the virtual reality technology comes from another training partner, NextWave Safety Solutions.

“Think of training as the base of your totem pole. If you can train assistant supers, maintenance, and skilled trades to do their jobs better, you’re going to have happier tenants. If you have happier tenants, they’re going to have more faith in the organization they live in,” said Charlotte McLellan, Training Manager at EEA.

Ultimately, Mr. Starks said, this training process is to help the residents: “As long as we work diligently and hard, we can at least get rid of one aspect of the work tickets, which is mold, and is the most important thing for residents, especially when dealing with asthma. You want the residents to be healthy.”

Interested in learning more about Mold Busters? Watch a webinar on the program here.