New York State Department of Health (DOH) routinely receives many public health complaints about mold in buildings which DOH frequently refers to local code enforcement officials (CEOs) to address the water damage. Many water problems in buildings are regulated by the Uniform Codes of New York State which can be enforced by local CEOs.CEOs are certified by New York Department of State (DOS). DOS requires that CEOs complete 24 hours of accredited training every year. DOS accredited the DOH training course, Mold, Water and Building Code, for 3 hours of in-service training in 2007. CEOs attending the course receive instruction on evaluating water problems in buildings, and the relevant building codes which may be used to address conditions that can cause mold growth. CEOs fulfill 3-hours of their in-service training requirements while they learn methods to address mold complaints from the public.
In 2008, DOH surveyed past participants of the mold training course to evaluate whether the CEOs' retained and applied the information about mold and moisture dynamics in buildings and related code enforcement actions. Quantitative self-reported assessments of code enforcement actions showed after CEOs attended the mold training course, they referred fewer mold calls to DOH (OR=0.47, 95%CI=0.2, 0.9), and they used the building codes to address the water problems in buildings more frequently (OR=2.86, 95%CI=1.4, 6.0).
As of September 2012, DOH has received accreditation for mold training courses for professional engineers, registered architects, real estate professionals, appraisers and home inspectors. DOH presented more than 40 accredited mold training courses to nearly 3700 people between 2007 and 2012.
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