Many Australians affected by living in damp water damaged homes were hopeful that there would be action on the 7 recommendations that came out of the Federal Biotoxin-related Illness Inquiry in 2018. Two of these recommendations (2 and 4) centered on the urgent need for industry standards and accreditation in the way water damaged buildings are managed. This is never more relevant than now as Australians are reeling from one natural disaster to another.

The Committee recommended that the Australian Government work with the states and territories to conduct further research into, and develop standards and/or accreditation requirements for the mould testing and remediation industries, which should include consideration of:
 
the most effective methods of testing and remediation of buildings affected by mould and/or moisture;
 
appropriate accreditation requirements for professionals working in these fields; and
 
options for greater regulatory oversight of these industries.

The mould remediation industry in Australia continues to be unregulated with many remediators not following ANSI/IICRC S520 Mold Remediation industry standards. Many are using fogging, spraying and gassing in lieu of source removal which is advised against in the standard as it does not solve the problem and often makes it worse. It also does not deal with the multiple other toxins released from water damages buildings such as bacterial toxins and volatile organic compounds.

In Tribunal hearings Occupational Hygienists and other Indoor Environmental Professionals are being pitted against and given equal footing with lab based scientists and carpet cleaners who may have little knowledge or experience of building science. As momentum has been lost there has been a swing away from proper source removal of mould and even large companies employing IEPs have started to publish their own guidelines downplaying the dangers of exposure to mycotoxins in water damaged buildings.

There are already internationally accepted standards for assessing and remediating water damaged buildings. We urge the Federal and State Governments to legislate to require the adoption of the ANSI/IICRC standards. Our children already have an extraordinarily high rate asthma and being forced to live in water damaged homes on top of being exposed to dangerous fungicides is a violation of their human rights and their futures.