Indoor mold contamination emergency response: this article describes how you may decide that the moldy conditions inside a building are serious enough to treat as an emergency.

How to Identify a Building Mold Emergency, Odor Emergency, or Indoor Air Quality Emergency

Watch out: because individual health risks and site conditions vary widely, no publication can always identify nor solve all problems caused by indoor air contamination.

If you believe that an indoor air quality or contamination emergency exists, get out of the building and seek professional help from emergency services such as dialing 911 from a telephone outside of and away from the building.

See IAQ EMERGENCY STEPS for four key actions to take. 

But here we provide assistance that will help in identifying an emergency and more assistance that will help determine when you need to hire a professional.

Even a non-emergency situation may require expert professional advice on diagnosis of problem causes and procedures to clean up mold or to remedy other IAQ issues.

At page top and above left we show examples of severe indoor mold contamination. In the extremely mold-contaminated building shown at page top there is no question that if this building had been occupied, it should not be. In an interesting technical experiment the author tested every surface of every different type of building material found inside the structure.

The results were interesting: different mold genera/species had strong preferences for different materials (no surprise). These variations underscore the importance of strategic sample location selection when screening less obviously contaminated buildings for mold.

For example I found completely different mold genera/species growing on the surface of a hollow-core luan interior door than on its edges.

Definition of Mold Emergency: Five Conditions Indicating an Indoor Mold, Odor, or Gas Emergency

The US EPA identifies five conditions that require immediate or "emergency" response [we have added a few items and some examples]: [6]

In the moldy book photo shown at above-left we illustrate a more subtle but serious indoor mold condition. In an in-use basement library area we found books that from a distance just looked "a little moldy".

But the air disturbance caused by merely walking past these books sent visible clouds of green Aspergillus sp. mold spores into the air in extemely high concentrations - a condition we verified in our laboratory

Worse, when the remediators installed rapid dehumidifying equipment, the sudden plummet in indoor humidity so excited the Aspergillus that it sent still much higher levels or spores into building air. Proper dust and mold containment measures were very important at this building to avoid jeapordizing people occupying the in-use upper floors.

1. Breathing difficulties that are widespread among building occupants, such as shortness of breath, tightness in the chest, or respiratory irritation. [An individual with breathing difficulties is an individual emergency but may not represent a building emergency.]
   
   Also see MOLD RELATED ILLNESS SYMPTOMS
2. Carbon monoxide poisoning symptoms: sounding of a CO detector alarm, or [apparently building-related] headaches, dizziness, drowsiness, nausea and combustion odors from heating equipment such as a heating boiler, furnace, or a fireplace, coalstove, or woodstove.
   
   See CARBON MONOXIDE - CO
   
   and HEATING SYSTEM ODORS
   
   and WOOD STOVE OPERATION & SAFETY.
   
   Other gases, concentrated indoors, can also be dangerous but may be harder to detect (CARBON DIOXIDE - CO₂).
   
   At GAS EXPOSURE EFFECTS we provide information about a wider range of indoor gas hazards.
3. Diagnosis of the presence of Legionnaire's disease or tuberculosis in the building or among building occupants.
   
   Also see Legionella BACTERIA & HVAC EQUIPMENT.
4. Flooded or water-damaged carpeting. [Note that the "emergency" here is the need for quick response to prevent a more costly mold contamination problem in the building.]
   
   Also see CARPET MOLD / ODOR TESTS
   
   and FLOOD DAMAGE ASSESSMENT, SAFETY & CLEANUP.
   
   Watch out: if you see a large area of mold in the building, more than 30 square feet of contiguous mold such as the black mold on drywall in a flooded basement shown in our photos you will need a professional to evaluate and another to correct the problem.]
5. Obvious life-threatening emergencies such as [a sounding smoke detector, carbon monoxide detector, or other evidence of a carbon monoxide danger or an actual fire in the building], hazardous material spills, [or warnings by officials of an earthquake, tsunami, flooding, or similar disaster that is imminent]

Watch out:  a mold-related indoor IAQ emergency condition may exist but may be less obvious, as we explain below.

If you are not sure if a mold emergency exists

Additional information helpful in deciding if an emergency condition exists can be read at

MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ?

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Question: very moldy drywall repair in a medical clinic - a dialysis center - is this a "Mold Emergency" ?

2021/01/27 Jenny said:

Hello, I was recently assigned to a "drywall repair" job inside a medical dialysis center. The precise location of this repair was in what I like to call the 'boiler room' where the one & only water heater is housed.

I'm not exactly sure of the required room size per size of water heater but it seemed like this room was entirely to small for starters & one small inadequate vent.

Anyway, when I 1st arrived on site I immediately noticed the large amounts of condensation on the ceiling & puddles on the floor. I completed the wall portion of the drywall repair & left.

By the next day when I got there, it was full on raining inside this tiny room, from above the ceiling & coming thru a large opening that needed the repair. & two more 'bubbles/swells' had developed on the ceiling. Needless to say, the water leak had to be fixed first.

So I punctured a couple holes in the water bubbles to relieve the build-up from above it.

Not sure how long this water leak had been getting worse for but I then noticed what appeared to be black mold growing on at least 2 of the 3 walls.

I'm attaching the photos I took.

This Q&A were posted originally at MOLD APPEARANCE FAQs

Moderator reply: immediately protect building occupants and dialysis patients from mold contamination then decide on the proper cleanup & prevention steps

Jenny

I have worked on very similar jobs.

Watch out: the very first concern here is the potential for serious health risks to building occupants, especially patients whose immune systems may be compromised and also to workers who spend a lot of time in the building.

The first action is to warn building management of possibly very serious health risks that justify expert

• Containment of the moldy area to prevent spreading to other areas - that means setting up isolation barriers of plastic and using negative air machines to prevent air movement and dust or particle movement into other building areas
• Cross-Contamination: checking that there is not already contamination of other building areas by mold spores or MVOCs
• Mechanical systems check: make sure (by inspection or if necessary surface testing) that the building ventilation or HVAC systems are not contaminated and are not spreading mold out of the contaminated area
• Determine extent of contamination: follow the water, check building cavitites, inspect for visible mold; do not rely simply on "air tests" or "culture tests" for building mold contamination;
• Remove the mold & fix the cause of its growth.
  
  Note that modly drywall can't be adequately-cleaned; it should be removed and the exposed surfaces cleaned.
  
  See DRYWALL MOLD TESTING
  
  and HIDDEN MOLD in CEILINGS / WALLS finding mold on the wall cavity side of drywall.

Watch out: Do not let people assume that because they didn't notice any complaints that everyone is safe.

While I strongly advise against panic (expensive and not helpful) this situation needs to be treated very seriously. Example: I had a client operating an audiology clinic; they all knew the ceiling was moldy but nobody cared much as nobody had experienced any reaction.

Then a young, apparently-healty client came into the clinic for a hearing test, was shut into the soundproof booth (also mold contaminated) where he went into anaphylactic shock and nearly died. The audiologist didn't know that her client was allergic to mold and perhaps was also asthmatic.

With containment in place cleanup and leak repairs can proceed.

Please keep me posted.

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Continue reading at MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ? or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

Mold Emergency Articles

• DIRECTORY of MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERTS
• MOLD ACTION GUIDE - WHAT TO DO ABOUT MOLD
• MOLD / ENVIRONMENTAL EXPERT, HIRE ?
  • CLEAN MOLD BEFORE TESTING?
  • CHOOSE a FLOOD DAMAGE RESTORATION or MOLD REMEDIATOR
  • CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
  • DEFINITION of IAQ PROBLEM
  • DEFINITION of MOLD EMERGENCY
  • IAQ EMERGENCY STEPS
  • MOLD TEST vs MOLD INSPECT
  • MOLD TEST vs. PROBLEM DIAGNOSIS
• MOLD in BUILDINGS Procedure: what mold is often found where in buildings - simple technical presentation
• UNSAFE ENVIRONMENT, CAN'T LEAVE

Suggested citation for this web page

DEFINITION of MOLD EMERGENCY at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

Or see this

INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to MOLD CONTAMINATION & REMEDIATION

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