Our world has changed so much in the last few months. It feels more like a decade than a matter of four months. Fortunately, ASSE has been able to adapt to our new circumstances and move ahead with standards development, and product and professional certification. This issue of Working Pressure magazine is all about new technology. There is advanced, new technology included in the standards we are developing and revising, but we are also seeing advances in technology that allows us to continue to certify people, despite restrictions on schools and training centers. Some schools were able to scramble to develop online classes. ASSE scrambled to get functions in place so that certification exams could be securely proctored remotely in people’s homes and offices. Most of the recent classes that have been offered online are for the ICRA (ASSE 12000) certification programs.
There has never been a greater need than now to have trained and certified individuals ready to safely work in facilities where it is imperative to protect against infection and the spread of disease. Over 100 contractors from across the country took the course to become certified to ASSE Standard 12020, Biological Pathogens Professional Qualifications Standard for Construction and Maintenance Employers. Another group of nearly 100 were trained and certified under the ASSE 12060, Water Quality Program Professional Qualifications Standard for Employers and Designated Representatives. These contractors and their employees have played a major roll in assuring that buildings are ready and safe for occupancy after prolonged shutdown.
Without technology, the training centers would not have had the ability to continue teaching in a safe environment and ASSE would not have been able to continue to certify people preparing to do the essential work needed to protect us and get our country up and running again. It is great when everything comes together, and it works.
During all this excitement, ASSE released a new standard: ASSE/IAPMO/ANSI 12080, Professional Qualifications Standard for Legionella Water Safety and Management Personnel. This standard has been in development for about a year, but the ANSI and ASSE Board approval could not have come at a better time. The publication date was April 27 – right about the time when many industry leaders began to discuss concerns with potential Legionella exposure, along with other waterborne pathogens, resulting from buildings being shut down for extended periods of time. This standard outlines the minimum qualifications needed to become a member of a water safety team involved in the development of a risk assessment analysis and a water management and sampling plan for protection from Legionella and other waterborne pathogens. The objective is to establish standard training, education, and certification requirements for the members of building water management teams and other interested parties to control building water systems to reduce the risk and spread of Legionella.
Once again, I refer to the ASSE International motto, “Prevention Rather than Cure.” We have all spent the last four months trying to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The likelihood is that we will spend the next year or so doing the same until a vaccine is created and effectively distributed. Let’s continue to work together with our industry partners to do all that we can to prevent the spread of the COVID-19 virus and protect against Legionella and other harmful pathogens. You can contact me at marianne.waickman@asse-plumbing.org.
