PAS 64 Industry Code of Best Practice for fire and flood restoration PAS 64 & BS12999 The verified drying and decontamination of water damaged buildings The British Standards Institute (BSI) have published two separate guidance and standards documents on the restoration and verification of water damaged and or flooded buildings. The PAS 64, published in 2013 costs £78 and the BS12999 published in 2015 costs £190 and these documents should be used in unison and are available at BSI bookshops at www.BSIgroup.com
All contractors engaged in fire and water damage restoration should follow these national guidance notes and standards and be able to verify that their works have been successful
All property owners should insist on compliance to both PAS 64 and BS12999:2015 because it is their only evidence that the work is completed properly.
Why the standards were written Prior to the standards introduction,contractors were not required to provide any verifiable evidence that their works had been completed properly. This meant many properties were not dried or sanitised properly and this led to both increased health hazards from biological residue for occupants and reduction of property value at point of sale of a property.
Who wrote the standards and their legal implication Both PAS 64 and BS12999 were written by leading stakeholders in the fire and flood restoration industry. Technical authors included Jeff Charlton of Building Forensics and various insurers, loss adjusting companies, the Association of British Insurers (ABI) and the documents were ratified by the industry. With the industry and insurers adopting the standards they must be seen as best practice when properly complied with. Therefore these guidance documents must be seen as the minimum level of compliance. With a requirement to verify the results of drying, cleaning and sanitation it must be clear that verification will revolve around measurement and sometimes third party (independent) assessments.
The importance of following British Standards PAS 64 & BS12999 Restoration or repair of a water damaged buildings requires different skill sets beyond just water removal. Water can penetrate materials and cause hidden damage, loss of insulation properties, release of chemical toxins from building materials and even furniture. Water in its many natural states can act as a gas and penetrate concrete and move 3 dimensionally even ending up in the loft from a basement leak. As water moves through or over materials it can condense or simply activate the omnipresent bacteria and mould spore. The warm moist environment results in bio amplification and this is now recognised as a health hazard.
The emphasis on this industry recognised code of best practice is documentation providing verifiable evidence of completion replacing historic use of caveats in meaningless completion certificates, so often issued by the restoration industry and builders
Scope of PAS 64
Contractors should visit the affected property within 48 hours of the reported incident This requirement is to make risk and hazard assessments of circumstances which may affect the health or safety of occupants Identify damage and potential controls which prevent damage escalation Take preliminary actions to reduce damage impact Provide evidence of successful restoration
Contractors will provide:
Details of damage Scope of works Drying goals Time Targets for completon of component parts
Contractors will undertake health and risk assessments on occupants The World Health Organisation has stated damp buildings are a health hazard and can trigger asthma and increasingly evidence suggests more serious health effects.
The contractor may provide or organise an Indoor Environmental Hygienist to undertake a risk and hazard assessment which will take into account the general health or susceptibility of occupants to known or suspected contaminates such as mould bacteria and chemicals. A typical risk and hazard assessment is shown in Table 1
Explanation of table components for PAS 64 The category is initial flood contamination level based on likely contamination such as:
Clean (tap water) Grey water (washing machine leak) Black water. Water entering the property from outside source and known to be a health hazard. Note all categories escalate over a few days to black water due to uncontrolled bio amplification Known or assumed Toxic or chemical components of flood water
Room and components refers to extent of possible damage and severity
Days from event is important because it provides a guide to possible bio amplification
The ages of occupants is a significant issue due to likely immune defence issues
Health issues can multiply hazards and risks and drug takers for example can be classified as prescription and illegal drugs use
Add the score for additional issues which focus attention on severity.
Note. This table was developed by the author and is for initial guidance only. Acceptable risk ranges from 35 to 50
The contractor will undertake detailed investigation into cleaning, sanitation and clearance to avoid both immediate and long term health risks from surface and airborne contamination:
Sampling of surface and air will follow WHO and British Standards
Assessments on sanitation and clearance will revolve around the risk and hazard assessments typically formulated in table 1 The PAS 64 technical committee recognised the potential risks from both short and long term exposure to the contamination associated with water damaged properties
Sanitation Water damage causes bacteria and mould to flourish and black water can contain virus and chemical waste. It is therefore imperative that properties are properly decontaminated. The evaporation or drying process will leave surface dust and biological contamination which can become aerosolised which according the WHO is the greatest health hazard. There are many fallacies surrounding sanitation and contractors are required in PAS 64 to prove the process they use, actually works by verification. Spraying biocide or fungicide can leave residues which cause chemical sensitivity, asthma and other acute and chronic illness. Killing bacteria and mould results in tiny allergenic and sometimes toxic fragments which can be inhaled for months and years after the water damage event. PAS 64 requires contractors to prove they have sanitised both surfaces and the air.
Closure and Certification When contractors have finished their work it important they provide the client with verified evidence that they have completed the works properly and can prove its dry and sanitised and the Indoor Air Quality is at least equal to outside conditions. This verification should form part of a completion certificate. This completion certificate is important because future purchasers or tenants may require evidence that the property was restored properly by professionals who followed the Industry Best Code of Practice.
Failure to provide this evidence may result in a property devaluation and or blight until such time as evidence is forthcoming.
PAS 64 provides a start to finish route of competent documented restoration, drying, sanitation and reduction and control of health hazards.
The emphasis on this industry recognised code of best practice is documentation and verifiable evidence of completion replacing historic use of caveats in meaningless completion certificates, so often issues by incompetent contractors
The World Health Organisation and international opinion state that water damage buildings can lead to an increased health risk to occupants.
When selling a property, vendors must disclose historic (flood) events which may affect the property value. Failure to provide prospective purchasers with certified evidence of competent restoration sanitation and decontamination could result a property value being reduced.
There is a high risk of acute and chronic health effects even years after the event from a poorly decontaminated property.
The PAS 64 provides the contractor and more importantly the property owner with a guide to industry best practice in the professional drying and decontamination of a property prior to its restoration and reinstatement. Building Forensics can help with this.
The Department of Communities & Local Government states: "A highly qualified person should perform the final inspection and testing. (section 4.3.3, Page 58)
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Compliance objectives Building Forensics provided technical content to the new British Standard Institute publication (PAS 64) which requires the verification and validation of contractors stated goals on drying and cleaning and decontamination. Of particular importance is the recognised hazard and risk of airborne and surface contamination which is invariably invisible and beyond the competence of any but professional environmental hygienist professionals. Building Forensics can provide all aspects of verification and validation described in PAS 64 to support property owners, insurers and contractors.
Most insurance policies contain a "Professional fees" acceptance which invariably covers the cost of surveyors etc. The qualified professional Indoor Environmental Hygienist should be covered under this section but check with your insurer, loss adjuster or broker.
It should be remembered that any certificate or guarantee issued by an unqualified contractor which is not independently verified may be worthless and unfortunately fail to identify the health risk or latent damage present
This potential and likely contamination should be identified, removed and verified preferably by an independent technically competent person in line with ISO 9000.
What's the health risk? The health risks or water damage and biological growth (mould) are recognised by World Health Organisation Sec 2.41 and mould is now legally recognised as a health hazard with the same (category 1) risk as asbestos. Ref Housing Health and Safety Rating System 2006
It is therefore imperative that health hazards and risks are not only removed from damp or wet buildings but proven too.
The following PAS 64 excerpts show important issues which should be addressed by flood and water damage contractors:
Recognition of potential health risks to building occupants escalating within 24 hours Sec 3.2 Recognise that dead mould and bacteria may be as toxic and allergenic as live growth and simply applying biocides may increase inhalation risk for years after application (ref WHO Sec 2.41 and BS ISO -16000-19 ref G.2.4 Assess Indoor Air Quality and monitor occupant health risk Sec 3.4.2 Assess Likely presence of hidden mould and microbial growth Sec 3.7
What is PAS 64 verification? Verification is supportive science based evidence and or validation which should be provided by third party independent technically competent persons and conform to international guidance such as;
ISO 9000 Centre of Disease Control Environmental Protection Agency NIOSH BSI PAS 64 2.3.9 IICRC S520
(See our Information and Scientific Evidence page for more information)
Contractor evaluation by visual contamination, odour or simple swab or enzyme air tests cannot be construed as anything other than a basic evaluation prior to verification especially as most health hazards are invisible.
Clearance certification required in PAS 64 should be provided by a third party independent professional Environmental Hygienist as follows :
"Verify " sanitation of surfaces for biological activitySec 3.9 ( c) "Verify " IAQ goals have been metSec 3:10 (c) "Verify "Documentation evidence to confirm IAQ conditions metSec 4 para j4 "Evidence" to confirm IAQ goals are metSec 4 j3 and Sec G2 .4 Assessments of vulnerable or atopic individuals.Ref World Health Organisation and Sec 2.41
The alternative to using an independent third party professional environmental hygienist is to ask the contractor who was paid to undertake the cleaning, drying and sanitation of the property to evaluate his own work and expect him tell you if he didn't do it properly?
How do I identify a qualified Environmental Hygienist? Our principle consultant Jeff Charlton is a Certified Indoor Environmental Hygienist (CIEC) and also accredited by the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health as an Accredited Associate. See accreditation.
New Mould and contamination measurement standard BS ISO 16000:19 Apart from the British Standard PAS 64 there is also BS ISO 16000:19 which is possibly one of the biggest improvements in identifying mould health issues. This standard provides the basis of how to measure mould contamination in the air and reduce occupant's health risk.
The standard emphasises the need to measure dead or non-viable spores which replaces the historic use of swabs and culture plates which only identifies some live spores.
The World Health Organisation made the statement that culture plates and swab type sampling is seriously flawed and this has been internationally accepted. The main issues here is that dead spores released during cleaning, or drying out, application of bleach or fungicide, cause the main spore to fragment into sub-micron particles which are allergenic and can be toxic and these are inhaled more easily to sometimes produce serious health effects.
This type of sampling (Total Spore Counts) has only recently been made a British Standard but Building Forensics have been using TSC as an Indoor Air Quality assessment tool for nearly a decade.