How Politics, Backstabbing Can Ruin the Office

by

Ambrose Clancy

Long Island Business News

Published: August 7, 2009

A veteran devil gives an apprentice in the trade a description of hell on earth, telling him to picture a place “where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance and resentment.”

The devil, in C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters,” is talking about a bureaucratic office, and if any of the above dysfunction describes where you work, take cold comfort, you’re not alone.
Ellen Cooperperson, president of Hauppauge’s Corporate Performance Consultants, said in her 25-year career she’s calculated that 80 percent of offices are dysfunctional, with that figure backed up by management research.

We asked her and other experts why good places go bad.

Nobody’s Talkin’
Cooperperson consulted on the Bank of New York-Mellon Financial merger in the summer of 2007. A chief concern was how the newly combined company would function once the bell rang on Wall Street. But people at both firms panicked they’d be pink slipped or, if they survived, what roles they’d have, who they would report to, etc. The panic was expressed by deafening silence.

So Cooperperson invited employees into a room where six elephant piñatas hung.

“Literally making them recognize the elephants in the room,” Cooperperson said. “After smashing them, everyone’s concerns were addressed.”

She described offices as a “network of conversations,” and healthy offices embrace debate as part of those conversations. Fear of debate means a lack of trust; with no debate, gossiping and backbiting are the only conversations remaining. Therefore managers have to upgrade the quality of those conversations.

Trust has to be established by management, but the employee can take the bull by the horns, said Vicky Oliver, author of “Bad Bosses, Crazy Co-Workers & Other Office Idiots.”

“Nothing’s served by being passive. Don’t ignore situations,” Oliver said.
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Matthew Cordaro, Dean of Dowling College’s Townsend School of Business believes in regularly scheduled meetings.

“And nothing should be sugarcoated,” he said, meaning the present and the future of the organization must be discussed regularly. Another toxic form of communication is private huddling and criticizing people not present.

Fish Rot From the Head Down
Leaders are responsible for an office’s atmosphere, and a poisonous office usually means no accountability at the top, Cooperperson said.

“The ultimate consequence of avoiding accountability is inattention to results until it becomes systemic,” she said. “Goals are not achieved but there are a lot of excuses why.”

Robert Riggio, author of “The Practice of Leadership,” has written about clueless leaders such as the one played by Steve Carell on TV’s “The Office,” who are blind to an awful situation. Then there are managers who simply don’t care. They’re worse, since they delegate poorly and reward incompetency.

Cordaro believes leaders must fight for their people. He recalled 1987 when the Long Island Lighting Co. was melting down, and how employees suffered from the company’s terrible image. Leaders ignored staff morale and that made the situation even more catastrophic.

Another leader working the dark side is one who believes in the concept of divide and rule, said Robert Bornstein, a professor at Adelphi’s Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies.

“Pitting staff members against each other to motivate them creates sibling rivalry and is a great distraction,” Bornstein said. “There’s confusion about roles and responsibilities.”

It’s the System, Stupid
Cooperperson once had an assignment to work with an aloof and arrogant manager running sales at the Long Island headquarters of an international corporation. She found a division with such resistance to this manager that people were making fun of him to the point where an unofficial part of orientation for new hires included hearing negative stories about him.

“It was a mutiny, with the office dead in the water,” she said.

The solution was to work with the manager, who made amends and then took on the larger challenge of “fixing” the organization.

“When someone says, ‘Fix him,’ I know it’s a much larger problem,’” Cooperperson said.

No Plan, Stan
“A good office takes a lot of work, but it also takes a theory,” Bornstein said. “It’s not just being clear, communicative and consistent in your behavior, but having an underlying framework for what you do.”

There are two successful approaches, he added, one Japanese and one American.

“A successful Japanese office is where everyone is nurtured,” Bornstein said, referring to studies published in “Psychology Applied to Work,” by Paul Muchinsky.

A successful American model is one where goals are crystal clear and incentives are completely spelled out and delivered.

In an MBA program run by Professor James Freeley at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University, students study Continuous Process Improvement, a technique that constantly identifies the causes of problems, avoiding the need to merely put out fires all week long. One of CPI’s principles is a Japanese principle known as “kaizen,” which means every person in the office is involved in problem solving. Most importantly, no blame is assessed for problems. The focus is entirely about finding a solution. CPI is also forward looking, and thus helps avoid dead ends or over-the-cliff disasters in offices. It also strives to remove all work that has no positive impact on the organization’s goals.

But office systems are like exercise; no matter if you practice yoga or jumping jacks, it’s not going to work unless it’s done every day and reviewed regularly.

Principally It’s About Principals
Leaders have to set an example by acting ethically, not only with all of their employees but with everyone who interacts with the office, Cordaro said.

“Being successful is of course essential, and having a good reputation as a principled company creates a good working environment to achieve that success,” he said.

Silk Purse From A Sow’s Ear
How do you remediate a toxic office? Author Oliver believes offices should start with the concept that youth must be served. Serious mentoring programs should be installed to keep the office from devouring its young.

“It’s enormously important for a young person to find an older person who takes an interest in their career development,” she said. And it focuses on both the veteran employee and the newbie.

“Mentoring should be part of the organizational system, but unfortunately, in most offices, it’s not.”

Cooperperson believes “courageous conversations” should commence immediately.

“People are scared in the beginning,” she said. “It’s, ‘Oh, my God, we’re going to have to tell the truth?’ But you must get the old conversations, the old stories out of the way and put them to rest to make way for the future.”

Paul Brennan, Prudential Douglas Elliman Hampton’s regional manager, said a real estate office differs in some ways from other offices, but there are enough similarities to learn something.

“Changing an office full of wounded egomaniacs is difficult,” Brennan said. “You have to be an example and practice humility to keep people’s egos in check.”

If the theory of squeaky wheels getting the grease is in place, it will be a chaotic mess. “That’s a nightmare when everyone catches on to it,” Brennan said. “You have to be fair to everyone and turn it around by again acting with some humility.”

And if that doesn’t work?

“Get yourself into therapy,” Brennan said.

RIP: Steve McNair

My heart goes out to Steve McNair's family, friends, and teammates. Just woke up to the news this morning on my way to get coffee. He was one of my favorite players growing up. McNair played college football at Alcorn State, where he won the 1994 Walter Payton Award as the top player in NCAA Division I-AA. He was drafted third overall by the NFL's Houston Oilers in 1995. He wore my fav #9. A class act who led the Tennessee Titans to their only Super Bowl in 1999 and shared the NFL MVP Award with Peyton manning in 2003. One of only 3 NFL Players to throw for 30,000 yards and run for 3,500. The other two players are Fran Tarkenton and Steve Young. That is great company to be in. And he was one of the toughest competitors that ever put on a NFL jersey. He will be missed.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (AFP) — Former National Football League quarterback Steve McNair and an unidentified woman have been found shot dead. He was 36.

Police said they were called to a home in Nashville's downtown area where the former Tennessee Titans and Baltimore Ravens quarterback and the woman were involved in a double shooting.

Police said McNair was found on the couch in the home and suffered several gunshot wounds. The woman had a single gunshot wound and had the gun nearby her.

Officials said they don't have a motive for the shooting.

"We are saddened and shocked to hear the news of Steve McNair's passing today," Titans owner K.S. "Bud" Adams said.

"He was one of the finest players to play for our organization and one of the most beloved players by our fans.
"He played with unquestioned heart and leadership and led us to places that we had never reached, including our only Super Bowl. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family as they deal with his untimely passing."

A three-time Pro Bowl selection, McNair shared the most valuable player of the NFL award in 2003.

In 161 games (153 starts), McNair threw for 31,304 yards on 2,733- of-4,544 passing, with 174 touchdowns. He also ran for 3,590 career yards and 37 TDs.

McNair last played in the NFL in 2007 for the Ravens. He is a former third overall pick by Houston in the NFL's 1995 entry draft.

"I will remember Steve's smile, his laugh, his ability to cook -- the man could cook -- and just the human being that he was," said former Titans running back Eddie George.

"We had some great times together, wonderful personality. The football thing was one thing and I remember his playing days, but just the human being. He brought so much joy to so many people. He was a consummate pro and he was a gentleman."

Emotional Robots: Will We Love Them Or Hate Them?

03 July 2009 by Hazel Muir

NewScientist.com

Magazine issue 2715. Subscribe and get 4 free issues.

SUNDAY, 1 February 2009, and 100 million Americans have got only one thing on their minds - the Super Bowl. The Pittsburgh Steelers are poised to battle the Arizona Cardinals in the most popular televised sporting event in the US. In a hotel room in New York, 46 supporters gather to watch the game, munching burgers and downing beers. Nothing strange about that, of course, aside from the machines that are monitoring these sports fans' every move and every breath they take.

The viewers are wearing vests with sensors that monitor their heart rate, movement, breathing and sweat. A market research company has kitted out the party-goers with these sensors to measure their emotional engagement with adverts during commercial breaks. Advertisers pay $3 million for a 30-second slot during the Super Bowl, so they want to be as confident as they can be that their ads are hitting home. And they are willing to pay for the knowledge. "It's a rapidly growing market - our revenues this year are four times what they were last year," says Carl Marci, CEO and chief scientist for the company running the experiment, Innerscope Research based in Boston, Massachusetts.

Innerscope's approach is the latest in a wave of ever more sophisticated emotion-sensing technologies. For years, computers in some call centres have monitored our voices so that managers can home in on what makes us fly into a wild rage. The latest technologies could soon be built into everyday gadgets to smooth our interactions with them. In-car alarms that jolt sleepy drivers awake, satnavs that sense our frustration in a traffic jam and offer alternative routes, and monitors that diagnose depression from body language are all in the pipeline. Prepare for the era of emotionally aware gadgets.

Outside of science fiction, the idea of technology that reads emotions has a brief, and chequered, past. Back in the mid-1990s, computer scientist Rosalind Picard at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology suggested pursuing this sort of research. She was greeted with scepticism. "It was such a taboo topic back then - it was seen as very undesirable, soft and irrelevant," she says.

Picard persevered, and in 1997 published a book called Affective Computing, which laid out the case that many technologies would work better if they were aware of their user's feelings. For instance, a computerised tutor could slow down its pace or give helpful suggestions if it sensed a student looking frustrated, just as a human teacher would.

She also suggested that wearable computers could sense emotion in a very direct way, by measuring your heart and breathing rate, or the changes in the skin's electrical conductance that signal emotional arousal. Wearable "mood detectors" could help people identify their stress triggers or communicate how they are feeling to others.

The most established way to analyse a person's feelings is through the tone of their voice. For several years, companies have been using "speech analytics" software that automatically monitors conversations between call-centre agents and customers. One supplier is NICE Systems, based in Ra'anana, Israel. It specialises in emotion-sensitive software and call-monitoring systems for companies and security organisations, and claims to have more than 24,000 customers worldwide, including the New York Police Department and Vodafone.
As well as scanning audio files for key words and phrases, such as a competitor's name, the software measures stress levels, as indicated by voice pitch and talking speed. Computers flag up calls in which customers appear to get angry or stressed out, perhaps because they are making a fraudulent insurance claim, or simply receiving poor service.

Voice works well when the person whose feelings you are trying to gauge is expressing themselves verbally, but that's not always the case, so several research teams are now figuring out ways of reading a person's feelings by analysing their posture and facial expressions alone.

Many groups have made impressive progress in the field, first by training computers to identify a face as such. Systems do this by searching for skin tone and using algorithms to locate features like the corners of the eyes and eyebrows, the nostrils and corners of the mouth (see diagram).

The computer can then keep track of these features as they move, often classifying the movements according to a commonly used emotion encoding system. That system recognises 44 "action units" representing facial movements. For instance, one might represent a smile - the mouth stretches horizontally and its corners go up. Add to that an eye-region movement that raises the cheeks and gives you crow's feet and now you have a beaming, genuinely happy smile rather than a stiff, polite one.

Using these techniques, computer programs can correctly recognise six basic emotions - disgust, happiness, sadness, anger, fear and surprise - more than 9 times out of 10, but only if the target face uses an exaggerated expression. Software can accurately judge more subtle, spontaneous facial expressions as "negative" or "positive" three-quarters of the time, but they cannot reliably spot spontaneous displays of the six specific emotions - yet. To accurately interpret complex, realistic emotions, computers will need extra cues, such as upper body posture and head motion.

That's because facial expressions alone are ambiguous. A smile on your face might actually signal embarrassment if it's also accompanied by a downward pitch of the head, for instance. A backward head motion is one part of an expression of disgust. But if someone combines that with a downward movement of the mouth and one raised shoulder, they're conveying indifference. "If I just looked at the face and saw the mouth going down, I would score it as sadness. But the combination with the shoulder and head motion is 'I don't care'," says Maja Pantic, who studies computer recognition of expressions at Imperial College London.
Pantic's team eventually hopes to find ways of fusing information from body gestures and facial expressions together in real time to read emotions accurately, although she concedes it may be an impossibly complex challenge. "This research is still so very new," she notes.

Basic emotions
In the meantime, they are studying the dynamics of how expressions change, to see if this can help computers identify emotions more accurately. Intuitively, most people know that a faked smile is more exaggerated than a real one, and switches on and off more abruptly. Facial-tracking technology has confirmed that, and also revealed some more subtle differences (you can see a video comparing fake and real smiles at www.newscientist.com/issue/2715).

These subtleties came to light in a 2004 study of 81 adults by Jeffrey Cohn and Karen Schmidt at the University of Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania (International Journal of Wavelets, Multiresolution and Information Processing, vol 2, p 1). They used tracking technology to compare forced smiles with spontaneous smiles provoked by comedy videos. This showed that spontaneous smiles are surprisingly complex, with multiple rises of the mouth corners.

Other teams have been highly successful at the opposite end of the emotional spectrum: pain detection. Computers are surprisingly good at distinguishing fake pain from the real thing, according to a study published this year by Gwen Littlewort of the University of California, San Diego, and colleagues.
Her team investigated whether facial expression software could distinguish people in real pain (because their hands were in iced water) from others asked to fake pain. The computer correctly classified real or fake pain 88 per cent of the time. When the team asked 170 untrained volunteers to make the judgement, they were right only 49 per cent of the time - no better than complete guesswork.

This year, Pantic and her colleagues hope to find out whether computers can accurately recognise the signs of lower back pain from facial expressions and body posture. They hope that computers might be able to distinguish between real physiological pain and the pain someone might perceive, quite genuinely, if they expect to feel pain or are depressed, but have no physiological cause for it. It could lead to more reliable ways of assessing whether painkillers are effective. "If you get a prescribed medication for acute pain, we would be able to monitor whether these medicines are actually working just by observing a person's behaviour," says Pantic.

One group of researchers has developed emotion-reading technology for a particularly vulnerable group of people. Picard and Rana el Kaliouby of MIT have built an "Interactive Social-Emotional Toolkit" (iSET), designed to help children with disorders linked to sensory processing, such as autism, to understand emotions in other people. A camera monitors the face of someone the child is talking to, and identifies 31 facial and head movements. Software interprets the combination of movements in terms of six states: agreeing, disagreeing, concentrating, thinking, interested and confused.

Then a laptop-sized screen displays six labelled bubbles that grow or shrink accordingly. If someone's nodding and smiling during the conversation, the agreeing bubble grows. If the listener looks away, a growing red bubble signals disagreement or disinterest. The team will began randomised trials of the technology this month. For 15 weeks, one group of five autistic children will use the iSET, while two control groups will use either an interactive DVD that teaches emotional awareness or have only standard classroom training. Before and afterwards, the researchers will test how well the children identify emotional expressions unaided by the iSET to see if the technology helps them learn to identify emotions for themselves.

Patronising paperclips
Not everyone welcomes these developments. William Gaver, a designer at Goldsmiths, University of London, concedes some of the applications may be beneficial, but fears emotion-sensing computers will be used in patronising ways. Who could forget Microsoft's cringe-making "paperclip" that offered help with writing letters: Microsoft wisely killed it off because people found it so irritating. But what if some emotion-triggered reincarnated "Mr Clippy" started popping up everywhere?

"The nightmare scenario is that the Microsoft paperclip starts to be associated with anything from the force with which you're typing to some sort of physiological measurement," says Gaver. "Then it pops up on your screen and says: 'Oh I'm sorry you're unhappy, would you like me to help you with that?'"

Emotion sensors could undermine personal relationships, he adds. Monitors that track elderly people in their homes, for instance, could leave them isolated. "Imagine being in a hurry to get home and wondering whether to visit an older friend on the way," says Gaver. "Wouldn't this be less likely if you had a device to reassure you not only that they were active and safe, but showing all the physiological and expressive signs of happiness as well?"

Picard raises another concern - that emotion-sensing technologies might be used covertly. Security services could use face and posture-reading systems to sense stress in people from a distance (a common indicator a person may be lying), even when they're unaware of it. Imagine if an unsavoury regime got hold of such technology and used it to identify citizens who opposed it, says Picard. There has already been progress towards stress detectors. For instance, research by Ioannis Pavlidis at the University of Houston, Texas, has shown that thermal imaging of people's faces can sense stress-induced increases in blood flow around the eyes.

His team analysed thermal videos of 39 political activists given the opportunity to commit a mock crime - stealing a cheque left in an empty corridor, made payable to an organisation they strongly opposed. They had to deny it during subsequent interrogation, and were threatened with financial penalties and punishments of loud noise if the interrogator caught them lying (empty threats at it turned out, for ethical reasons). Computer analysis of the videos correctly distinguished the 15 innocent and 24 guilty "suspects" 82 per cent of the time.
Another fledgeling technique, called laser Doppler vibrometry, measures tiny stress-related changes in respiration and heartbeat from afar - indicators that are sometimes used to gauge whether a person is stressed, and hence possibly lying.

Picard says that anyone utilising emotion-sensing systems should be obliged to gain informed consent from the people they plan to "read". At least that way, whether you find it patronising, creepy or just plain annoying, you can hit the big "off" button and it will, or at least should, leave you and your emotions in peace.

I know how you feel
DO YOU reckon you're a master of reading another's true feelings? Many people think they are, but only about 1 in 100 of us are naturally gifted at recognising emotions in someone who's trying to conceal them, says Paul Ekman, a psychologist formerly at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ekman made his name when he identified the facial expressions of the seven key emotions that are universal, regardless of nationality or culture - happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contempt and surprise. He also acts as a consultant to law-enforcement agencies, advising them on how to spot liars from clues in their facial expressions, speech and body movements.

It takes considerable effort to be a good human lie detector. To begin with, it is essential to know your subject's "baseline" behaviour when they're not stressed. Then look for deviations from this when they're under interrogation. Ekman points out that not everyone is the same. For example, some people look fearful regardless of their emotions.

So there are no absolute signs that people are definitely lying, but here are some of Ekman's top tips for spotting a fraud:

DO THEY HAVE RHYTHM?
Clues in the voice include unusually long or frequent pauses. People who are having trouble deciding exactly what to say usually use fewer hand gestures to reinforce their speech - they're less likely to "conduct" their speech by waving their hands.

LOOK OUT FOR FLICKERS
People can't help showing their true feelings for a fraction of a second. For example, a person might try to conceal their feelings of contempt, but give it away with a fleeting raised lip on one side, so look out for these micro-expressions. (Test your ability to interpret micro-expressions at http://www.facetest.notlong.com/)

SPOT THE GESTURAL SLIPS
Some gestures, called "emblems", have a precise meaning within a cultural group. Examples include a shoulder shrug with upward palms, communicating "who cares" or "I'm helpless". Usually people make them obvious, but when lying, they may display an incomplete emblem. They might rotate their hands upwards on their lap - a subconscious fragment of the shrug that betrays their feeling of helplessness at not lying well.

Hazel Muir is a freelance writer based in the UK

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Legendary Rangers Defenseman Brian Leetch Headlines Hall of Fame Class

I know it's late, been busy with work. Arguably the greatest American born hockey player, Brian Leetch was elected into the Hockey Hall of Fame this past week. Leetch was one of my favorite players growing up. It was a sad day when he was traded to Toronto. I'll admit my eyes watered up and I got goosebumps watching his jersey ceremony. Congratulations Brian, you deserve the 1st ballot election.

Legendary Rangers Defenseman Brian Leetch Headlines Hall of Fame Class

BY Michael Obernauer
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Tuesday, June 23rd 2009

6:38 PM New York Daily News

The greatest player the Rangers have ever produced will take his rightful place among the greats of the game.

In an announcement that has been scheduled ever since Brian Leetch hung up his skates three years ago, the Hockey Hall of Fame officially elected the legendary Ranger defenseman to its formidable Class of 2009. Leetch will join Steve Yzerman, Brett Hull and Luc Robitaille at the induction ceremony on Nov.9 in Toronto.

The 18-member selection committee also tabbed Lou Lamoriello for induction in the builders' category, which the Devils president called "a complete surprise" - the only one of the day, in fact.

"A pretty overwhelming day, to say the least. I'm certainly humbled, excited, proud," Leetch said on a conference call, later adding that he was perhaps relieved above all. "And congratulations to the rest of the guys (elected) today. Just an amazing thing."

Leetch, the Rangers' top pick in the 1986 draft, joined the team in 1988 after stints with Boston College and the U.S. Olympic team, and won the Calder Trophy as the top rookie the following season. He played 17 seasons in a Blueshirt, covering 1,129 games - nine fewer than Harry Howell's team record - scoring 240 goals and 981 points (second on the team list to Rod Gilbert) while establishing himself as one of the best two-way defensemen in history.

Leetch won Norris Trophies in 1992 and '97, and cemented his place in Ranger lore by taking home the Conn Smythe Trophy as the 1994 playoff MVP when the Blueshirts broke their 54-year Stanley Cup drought.

Leetch, 41, was driving in his car yesterday afternoon when a call came into his cell phone from a number with a Toronto area code - meaning good news was on its way from Hall chairman Bill Hay. "I pulled my car over, took the call from Bill, and then sat there for another 15 minutes or so," Leetch said. "It was a sigh of relief."

That's a stark contrast from the call Leetch received on March 3, 2004, when Glen Sather's number on his caller ID made Leetch's stomach drop. The Rangers president/GM was calling that day to inform his best player that he had been traded to Toronto - a deal that devastated Leetch.

Leetch's next trip to the Garden came in 2006 in a Boston Bruins sweater; he returned again on Jan. 24, 2008, to watch his No.2 ascend to the rafters.

While Yzerman (692 goals), Hull (741) and Robitaille (668) are connected by the Cup they won together in Detroit in 2002, Leetch, Hull and Lamoriello share a bond from their Team USA days, peaking with their victory over Canada in the 1996 World Cup final. Leetch - widely regarded as the best U.S.-born defenseman - also left an impression on Lamoriello during the Rangers' epic defeat of the Devils in the '94 semis.

"I wish I couldn't comment on that, but I will," joked Lamoriello, whose Devil teams have won three Stanley Cups. "He was the catalyst for that Ranger team. His play was just extremely exceptional. We couldn't contain him."

The '09 class stacks up as one of the best to enter the Hall, although it gets a challenge from the 2007 group led by Leetch's pal Mark Messier that included Scott Stevens, Al MacInnis and Ron Francis. None of yesterday's honorees cared to compare classes.

"It's just great to be going into the Hall of Fame and joining those guys," Leetch said.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/hockey/rangers/2009/06/23/2009-06-23_legendary_rangers_defenseman.html#ixzz0JmvFmBTJ&C

A Closer Look: Cause of Death

Where There's a Will... There's a Dead Guy

Another book I just downloaded on my Kindle from one of the greatest minds of our time.

Celebrating birthdays are always much more fun than thinking about becoming one with Force. But death can be quite interesting when broken down into unexpected statistics, false perceptions, bizarre myths and questions worth asking about diseases, accidents, occupational hazards, poisons, infections, murder, animal attacks, insect bites and war. Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us by Lucy Autrey Wilson, Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett, a new book from George Lucas Books and Simon & Schuster, explores all the things that make us become Jedi ghosts before our time.

"As it must to all men, death came to Charles Foster Kane in one of the most famous movies of all time," filmmaker George Lucas writes in the book's introduction. "The eloquence of that notion -- that death will come to every single one of us -- has always been a bit of a morbid fascination for me. But is it really so morbid to be curious about the only thing in this world that is truly certain?.... But death is truth -- and its undeniably fascinating. So, I hope that Cause of Death will intrigue, inform, illuminate and perhaps even inspire you to action -- because when we learn a little about how we die, we also learn a lot about how we live."

Author Lucy Autrey Wilson, who fans might recall began her career with Lucasfilm in 1974 when she typed the script to the first Star Wars movie on an IBM Selectric typewriter, talks with Starwars.com about why George Lucas asked her to research a book about a topic most of us would rather avoid altogether.

How did the Cause of Death book project come about? Why did George Lucas want a comprehensive book of statistics and facts about all the ways humans can die?
In November 2000, in an interview between George Lucas and Tom Grace, George fleshed out his interest in a book that would provide "real" numbers and information on causes of death instead of the "funny" numbers one finds every time you read a newspaper or magazine. He thought providing people with the truth about death statistics would be both useful and entertaining. His good friend Jim Henson had died suddenly May 1990 from a bacterial infection. Because Henson traveled a lot, George had wondered if he caught the bug that killed him in an airport and that led to wondering what the most deadly diseases in the world really were. Tom had volunteered to write and research causes of death thinking it would provide good background for one of his thriller novels. The plan was for him to use his brother's proprietary software to search and find all the desired data online so the book could be put together quickly. Who knew, however, that finding accurate information on what a driver was doing when he crashed his car and was killed, or whether a virus is deadlier than bacteria, or whether people in war died more often of disease or gunshots, or which is the deadliest animal in Africa, etc. would be so much work!

How did you start tackling the research for this project?
My success with publishing Star Wars was to put the various projects into the right hands, which included a team of people who could provide the writers with the research and background they needed. After a year of death research that didn't even dent the surface of what George Lucas was interested in, Tom Grace left the project. By then I knew the book had to hinge on a consistent framework so the numbers being compared were apples to apples and not just random facts that didn't relate to each other. Tom had uncovered the databases maintained by the World Health Organization (WHO) and we had broken down all deaths into interesting groupings. Similarly, the U.S. mortality statistics reported by the Center for Disease Control (CDC) were synced up to the numbers reported by the WHO. What had become clear was that one couldn't count on online newspapers, bloggers or others to always have their facts straight. We needed to get the bulk of our data from more reliable sources -- i.e. via viable governmental agencies that have massive teams of people to report and track statistics.

With the help of another writer/researcher Jane Ellen Stevens, official sources for stats beyond the WHO and CDC were revealed from the United Nations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to Medline (part of the National Library of Medicine which helped enormously in turning medical terminology into "English" ) to the Bureau of Labor Statistics etc. With a framework of related death numbers reported by both the WHO and the CDC, now research needed to be done via hundreds of databases that would uncover answers to the questions George was asking. By 2004, completely hooked on the subject, and realizing I needed to know the data as well as any contributing researcher in order to edit the final book, I decided the only way to get the project done was to do the bulk of the remaining research myself and hire word-smiths who could then turn the facts into fun.

How did the Internet help with your research?
Without the Internet there would be no book. Thank heavens for Google! And thank heavens for how much all governmental agencies worldwide were uploading and making information accessible between when the research first started in 2001 to when it became intense in 2004. This is one area our tax dollars are really put to good use. Once the numbers, for example, for all worldwide and U.S. accidental deaths were known, then one needed to drill down to find the cause (cell phone or speeding, ladder or hot water, etc.). But when it came to certain areas, it wasn't easy. Neither the CDC nor the WHO list deaths by whether they were caused by a water buffalo or a hippo (in fact most deaths in Africa, China and other countries are best guesses). Nor do they include information on whether someone died being hit or struck while playing baseball or football. So, to flesh out the chapters on Accidental death by Flora and Fauna, Nature and Sports, for example, required coming up with a list of everything to be included (i.e. for Flora and Fauna, a list of mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, marine animals, and flora A to Z) and then doing a Google search on each creature on the list to find out as much info as was out there on people killed by that particular agent.

What statistic or fact did you learn in writing this book that surprised you the most?
I probably spent the most research time on death by Flora and Fauna and Bugs. What surprised me in the Flora and Fauna section is that although death by shark attacks, mountain lions, bears, etc. are always front page news, we don't die very often from the creatures we share the planet with. In fact, it made me really sad to realize how many of these creatures man has managed to wipe out. In researching accidental deaths from motor vehicles, I was surprised by how many pedestrians are killed annually (I'm now very careful when I cross the street) and in researching death by Bugs (bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites and prions), I never fully realized how truly nasty those little microscopic creatures really are (especially if one has a weakened immune system). So, I'm now very good about washing my hands.

Which section of the book is your favorite and why?
I like Accidental deaths by Flora and Fauna and Bugs the best because they were the hardest to figure out and the most interesting. While I was working on the book, people were always asking me if I found the subject really depressing. The answer is no. What was increasingly refreshing was the realization that almost all premature deaths are preventable if you follow general guidelines (wash your hands, exercise, watch what you eat, etc.). That led to a decision to rank the deaths in the book by whether they happen prematurely rather than when one takes all ages into account. What was also uplifting is how much we've improved our average life spans since my parent's generation with inventions like seat belts, bike helmets and improved medicines.

What's the weirdest way to die?
One of the weirdest (and saddest) ways to die is from Scleroderma which killed one of my favorite painters, Paul Klee, and also a very sweet fellow Lucasfilm staffer many years ago. It's very rare, (only one person died of it in the U.S. in each of 2004 and 2005). It's a form of arthritis that causes the skin all over your body to become progressively hardened.

What's the most common way to die?
The most common way to die is by self inflicting your body with too much of the wrong substances (tobacco, high cholesterol foods, high fructose corn syrup, alcohol, etc.) which raise the probability you'll die from some kind of cancer or organ failure.

Why do you think this book will be helpful to readers, as well as entertaining?
I think Robert Young Pelton's introduction sums it up pretty well. It is an active body and inquisitive mind that keeps us young. We are all going to die, but we can live life longer and more fully by doing simple things like wearing a seatbelt, skipping dessert and never smoking. I hope the reader, rather than brood about all the horrible things that can kill you (or has just killed someone you read about daily in magazines and newspapers), will be careful to avoid the bad things that are within their control and go out and have a good time.

Can you talk a little bit about how George Lucas Books was created and why?
In 1999, I had been running the Lucas Licensing Publishing Department for about 10 years when George Lucas first mentioned he was interested in books on subjects that had nothing to do with Star Wars. Even though packaging and licensing books on our own popular movie properties was very different from developing factual nonfiction, I believe in the saying "Where there's a will there's a way" and took on the challenge of turning George's interests into books. One of the books was to be on causes of death and other general film-related books were also planned. So with one author already on board to research and write the death book, I hired Jonathan Rinzler to help edit the new nonfiction. That same year, we made a five-book deal with Ballantine to publish the new imprint nonfiction titles. The plan was to develop these books together with our publishing partner while continuing with our regular licensed projects. Each nonfiction book would have one author to both do the research and write.

Starting with one or two Star Wars titles per year in the late 1980s, the Lucasfilm publishing program had been built up so by the early 2000's we were publishing between 100 and 200 mostly Star Wars books, magazines and comic titles per year. When it became clear the new nonfiction was going to take a lot more time than anticipated, I left Licensing in August 2003 to join JAK Films and manage the new imprint as a department of one. Over time I realized most authors who are good with words are not that good with numbers and the one author-one book approach wasn't producing the desired results. Eventually, the arrangement with Ballantine was dissolved as unworkable and JAK Films moved forward packaging and publishing each title individually. That resulted in the very fine team at Simon & Schuster becoming the Cause of Death book's publisher and contributing the really great book design.

Cause of Death: A Perfect Little Guide to What Kills Us by Lucy Autrey Wilson, Jack Mingo and Erin Barrett, a new book from George Lucas Books and Simon & Schuster is on shelves in bookstores nationwide.

Home Owners and Renters Insurance

Types Of Coverages Available

Additional property coverage

Some insurance policies also provide additional property damage coverage when a loss occurs as the result of a covered peril.

Covered items include:

1. reasonable temporary repairs

2. necessary to protect the property against further damage

3. reasonable cost of removing damaged property and debris

4. expenses of removing property and storing it for up to thirty days

5.reimbursement for fire department service charges

6. reimbursement of up to $500 for loss of credit cards, check forgeries or acceptance in good faith of counterfeit money.

Most renters’ insurance policies do not have a property damage component. Some renter's insurance policies, however, do provide for loss or damage to the premises caused by the renter.

Home Owners and Renters Insurance

What Does Property Damage Cover?

The property damage portion of a homeowner's policy covers loss or damage to the home and other structures on the property. In the event of a total loss, the amount paid depends upon the dwelling policy limit of the insurance contract as well as the type of coverage provided under the contract.

On some policies, other structures (such as detached garages, tool sheds, fences, guesthouses, and gazebos) are typically covered at the rate of 10% of the limit set for the dwelling itself. For example, an insurance contract that provides $100,000 coverage for a dwelling typically will provide up to $10,000 coverage for other structures. Trees, shrubbery and other landscape are typically covered for 5% of the dwelling limit.

Know your policy, talk to your insurance agent, they are your friend.

How to Live by the Numbers: Health

The Frequent Walker Program

—Brendan I. Koerner

WIRED MAGAZINE: 17.07

Unless popcorn shrimp is on offer, many Americans are loath to walk any more than necessary. That chronic sloth is a drag for employers, whose health care costs can swell in tandem with their workers' waistlines. Now Virgin impresario Richard Branson thinks he can save businesses a bundle with a program that turns personal fitness into a game, complete with reams of stats to obsess over. When companies sign up with Virgin HealthMiles, their employees rack up rewards for staying active: The more you walk, the closer you get to earning HealthCash, which can be redeemed for real cash or gift cards from Amazon.com, Target, and (curiously) Omaha Steaks.

Participants are issued pedometers and challenged to take 7,000 steps a day. That's about 3.5 miles—40 percent more than the average deskbound adult's daily distance. Hitting that goal in a day garners 20 HealthMiles, the program's equivalent of frequent flier points. Bonuses are available for simply logging in to the HealthMiles Web site (10 miles), taking a no-smoking pledge (500 miles), or updating your blood pressure, weight, and body fat at a HealthMiles kiosk (200 miles).

I gave it a go and found that once my routine perambulation was assigned a numerical value—and valuable gifts were on the line—I began dedicating inordinate effort to meet that 7,000-step target. At first, I was aghast to learn that despite my 25-minute trudge to the office, I averaged only 6,600 steps per day. The problem? I'm tall, and my legs are longer than average. So I shortened my stride.

Alas, I'm still nowhere near reaching HealthMiles' vaunted Level Five, which pays $500 in HealthCash. Employers that offer the program pick up that tab, but it could be a worthwhile investment: Virgin CEO Christopher Boyce claims that corporate clients can cut $2,500 off the annual cost of health care provided to each participant. Imagine how much more they'll save if Virgin ever develops a pedometer capable of stopping people from walking into a Dunkin' Donuts.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all the fathers out there from Advanced Restoration Corp.

Face Gets Shutout, Then Shuts Game Off

This is a personal post. It has nothing to do with my job at all. Nothing to do with Advanced Restoration, water damage, mold remediation, the insurance industry, insurance agents, fire damage, disasters, disaster planning, or any kind of property damage.

I like to play video games in my spare time. I feel comfortable saying that knowing I am not in the minority. I am 33 years of age and I am the average age of a video game player. Video games are not for just kids anymore. The video game industry is a multi-billion dollar industry. And it continues to grow every month. It was even put into the Patriot Act that the government can listen into the conversations on XBox Live without a warrant for fear of terrorists using the platform to organize and plan attacks against us. It is a cheap way to communicate all over the world. For the price of an XBox360, a broadband connection, and a recurring $50 yearly charge, you can talk to people all over the world as long as you and the person you are trying to connect to are signed in to XBox Live. And you can have up to 8 people in your "party." When I was in Rhode Island, this was my saving grace. Because I could still sign in and hangout with my brother and friends on Long Island when I wanted.



I usually play video games with a core group of guys that all went to High School with me. I know this might sound funny to the non-gamers but the competition can get, whats the nicest way I can put this.......heated. A lot of yelling and screaming at each other. Some cursing I wont lie. Arguments between friends can carry over for a few days. It can even carry over to the golf course. And the bragging rights are really what it is for. So you can talk trash to each other.



And this is the ultimate trash talk. For everyone to see. So on that note, me and my buddy Face, we don't call him Face because of the A-Team just a nickname given to him high school, have been playing this hockey game. We are the only two out of our friends that play it because we beat everyone else. Very old school Nintendo style with the fat, medium, and skinny guys. Great game. But we have Mastered this game so much that the competition gets very, very heated. I'll give him credit, we played a best of seven of seven tournament. Which is we play a best 4 out 7 tournament and count that as one game in a best 4 tournaments out of 7 tournaments. And he won. Beat me 4 tournaments to 2.

But then things have changed. I have beaten him 14 straight at one point. The only thing we had to play for against each other is that neither one of us had shut the other person out. And that is the main reason why I posted this. We played a few weeks ago and we were having connection problems. The service kept booting us in the middle of the games. The last game we played that night, I was winning 8-0. Never got that close to shutting him out. I scored my 9th goal, and the game crashed. Thankfully I live alone so nobody could hear me scream. He swore he didn't do it and it was the game. I knew he did. And I was pissed. It took us about a week before we really talked. He kept saying he didn't shut the game off and it was XBox Live. So I let it pass.

I got home from work last night about 7pm. Wasn't planing on going out as I had to be in my office early this morning. Face and I were going to play a game of hockey and then play Tiger Woods Golf on Bethpage Black. I called it before the hockey game that I had figured him out and he was going to get shutout this game. Again, I had him 8-0. And just as I scored my 9th goal, he shut the game off. I wasn't pissed this time. I laughed. Now I know, I shut him out............

Twice!!!!

So I took a picture of the final games stats for all to see. Face quit. Face got Shutout. Twice. Look at the Hits. 50-16. Ouch.

Green Tip Of the Day

Green Tip of the Day - Improve Indoor Air Quality

Advanced Restoration Corp.

Concerns about indoor air quality (IAQ) increased when energy conservation measures instituted in office buildings during the 1970s, minimized the introduction of outside air and contributed to the buildup of indoor air contaminants. IAQ generally refers to the quality of the air in an office environment. Other terms related to IAQ include indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and "sick building syndrome" (SBS).Complaints about IAQ range from simple complaints, such as the air smelling mold, to more complex, where the air quality causes illness and lost work time. It may not be easy to identify a single reason for IAQ complaints because of the number and variety of possible sources, causes, and varying individual sensitivities.

Improving the indoor air quality in your home can be simple.

Put green plants in your home. Studies suggest that for a 2000 square foot home, you will need as many as 15 plants to receive the optimal benefits. Aside from cheering up a room, house plants improve the indoor air quality in your home by absorbing toxic gases from your computer and electronic equipment. They also help maintain humidity.

Many houseplants are easy to maintain. Be sure to choose plants that will grow well in your home by considering how much direct sunlight and attention they will need. Get one for your office too!

* If you have a toddler in your home who enjoys unplanting your house plants, try hanging the plants out of reach.

A Brief Guide to Mold in the Workplace

This Safety and Health Information Bulletin is not a standard or regulation, and it creates no new legal obligations. The Bulletin is advisory in nature, informational in content, and is intended to assist building managers, custodians, and others who are responsible for building maintenance. Contractors and other professionals (e.g., environmental consultants and health or safety professionals) who respond to mold and moisture situations in buildings, as well as members of the general public, also may want to refer to these guidelines. The Occupational Safety and Health Act requires employers to comply with hazard-specific safety and health standards as issued and enforced by either the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), or an OSHA-approved State Plan. In addition, Section 5(a)(1), the General Duty Clause, requires employers to provide their employees with a workplace free from recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious physical harm. Employers can be cited for violating the General Duty Clause if there is such a recognized hazard and they do not take reasonable steps to prevent or abate the hazard. However, failure to implement these guidelines is not, in itself, a violation of the General Duty Clause. Citations can only be based on standards, regulations, and the General Duty Clause.

Introduction
Concern about indoor exposure to mold has increased along with public awareness that exposure to mold can cause a variety of health effects and symptoms, including allergic reactions. This safety and health information bulletin provides recommendations for the prevention of mold growth and describes measures designed to protect the health of building occupants and workers involved in mold cleanup and prevention. This bulletin is directed primarily at building managers, custodians, and others responsible for building maintenance, but may also be used as a basic reference for those involved in mold remediation. By reading this safety and health information bulletin, individuals with little or no experience with mold remediation may be able to reasonably judge whether mold contamination can be managed in-house or whether outside assistance is required. The advice of a medical professional should always be sought if there are any emerging health issues. This document will help those responsible for building maintenance in the evaluation of remediation plans. Contractors and other professionals (e.g. industrial hygienists or other environmental health and safety professionals) who respond to mold and moisture situations in buildings, as well as members of the general public, also may find these guidelines helpful. The information in these guidelines is intended only as a summary of basic procedures and is not intended, nor should it be used, as a detailed guide to mold remediation.

These guidelines are subject to change as more information regarding mold contamination and remediation becomes available.

Mold Basics
Molds are part of the natural environment. Molds are fungi that can be found anywhere - inside or outside - throughout the year. About 1,000 species of mold can be found in the United States, with more than 100,000 known species worldwide. Outdoors, molds play an important role in nature by breaking down organic matter such as toppled trees, fallen leaves, and dead animals. We would not have food and medicines, like cheese and penicillin, without mold.

Indoors, mold growth should be avoided. Problems may arise when mold starts eating away at materials, affecting the look, smell, and possibly, with the respect to wood-framed buildings, affecting the structural integrity of the buildings. Molds can grow on virtually any substance, as long as moisture or water, oxygen, and an organic source are present. Molds reproduce by creating tiny spores (viable seeds) that usually cannot be seen without magnification. Mold spores continually float through the indoor and outdoor air. Molds are usually not a problem unless mold spores land on a damp spot and begin growing. They digest whatever they land on in order to survive. There are molds that grow on wood, paper, carpet, foods and insulation, while other molds feast on the everyday dust and dirt that gather in the moist regions of a building. When excessive moisture or water accumulates indoors, mold growth often will occur, particularly if the moisture problem remains uncorrected.

While it is impossible to eliminate all molds and mold spores, controlling moisture can control indoor mold growth. All molds share the characteristic of being able to grow without sunlight; mold needs only a viable seed (spore), a nutrient source, moisture, and the right temperature to proliferate. This explains why mold infestation is often found in damp, dark, hidden spaces; light and air circulation dry areas out, making them less hospitable for mold. Molds gradually damage building materials and furnishings. If left unchecked, mold can eventually cause structural damage to a wood framed building, weakening floors and walls as it feeds on moist wooden structural members. If you suspect that mold has damaged building integrity, consult a structural engineer or other professional with the appropriate expertise. Since mold requires water to grow, it is important to prevent excessive moisture in buildings.

Some moisture problems in buildings have been linked to changes in building construction practices since the 1970s, which resulted in tightly sealed buildings with diminished ventilation, contributing to moisture vapor buildup. Other moisture problems may result from roof leaks, landscaping or gutters that direct water into or under a building, or unvented combustion appliance. Delayed or insufficient maintenance may contribute to moisture problems in buildings. Improper maintenance and design of building heating/ventilating/air-conditioning (HVAC) systems, such as insufficient cooling capacity for an air conditioning system, can result in elevated humidity levels in a building.

Health Effects
Currently, there are no federal standards or recommendations, (e.g., OSHA, NIOSH, EPA) for airborne concentrations of mold or mold spores. Scientific research on the relationship between mold exposures and health effects is ongoing. This section provides a brief overview, but does not describe all potential health effects related to mold exposure. For more detailed information, consult a health professional or your state or local health department.

There are many types of mold. Most typical indoor air exposures to mold do not present a risk of adverse health effects. Molds can cause adverse effects by producing allergens (substances that can cause allergic reactions). Potential health concerns are important reasons to prevent mold growth and to remediate existing problem areas. The onset of allergic reactions to mold can be either immediate or delayed. Allergic responses include hay fever-type symptoms such as runny nose and red eyes. Molds may cause localized skin or mucosal infections but, in general, do not cause systemic infections in humans, except for persons with impaired immunity, AIDS, uncontrolled diabetes, or those taking immune suppressive drugs. An important reference with guidelines for immuno-compromised individuals can be found at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

Molds can also cause asthma attacks in some individuals who are allergic to mold. In addition, exposure to mold can irritate the eyes, skin, nose and throat in certain individuals. Symptoms other than allergic and irritant types are not commonly reported as a result of inhaling mold in the indoor environment. Some specific species of mold produce mycotoxins under certain environmental conditions. Potential health effects from mycotoxins are the subject of ongoing scientific research and are beyond the scope of this document. Eating, drinking, and using tobacco products and cosmetics where mold remediation is taking place should be avoided. This will prevent unnecessary contamination of food, beverage, cosmetics, and tobacco products by mold and other harmful substances within the work area.

Prevention
Moisture control is the key to mold control. When water leaks or spills occur indoors - act promptly. Any initial water infiltration should be stopped and cleaned promptly.

A prompt response (within 24-48 hours) and thorough clean- up, drying, and/or removal of water-damaged materials will prevent or limit mold growth. Mold prevention tips include:
Repairing plumbing leaks and leaks in the building structure as soon as possible.
Looking for condensation and wet spots. Fix source(s) of moisture incursion problem(s) as soon as possible.

Preventing moisture from condensing by increasing surface temperature or reducing the moisture level in the air (humidity). To increase surface temperature, insulate or increase air circulation. To reduce the moisture level in the air, repair leaks, increase ventilation (if outside air is cold and dry), or dehumidify (if outdoor air is warm and humid).

Keeping HVAC drip pans clean, flowing properly, and unobstructed.

Performing regularly scheduled building/ HVAC inspections and maintenance, including filter changes.

Maintaining indoor relative humidity below 70% (25 - 60%, if possible).

Venting moisture-generating appliances, such as dryers, to the outside where possible.

Venting kitchens (cooking areas) and bathrooms according to local code requirements.

Cleaning and drying wet or damp spots as soon as possible, but no more than 48 hours after discovery.

Providing adequate drainage around buildings and sloping the ground away from building foundations. Follow all local building codes.

Pinpointing areas where leaks have occurred, identifying the causes, and taking preventive action to ensure that they do not reoccur.

Questions That May Assist in Determining Whether a Mold Problem Currently Exists
Are building materials or furnishings visibly moisture damaged?

Have building materials been wet more than 48 hours?

Are there existing moisture problems in the building?

Are building occupants reporting musty or moldy odors?

Are building occupants reporting health problems that they think are related to mold in the indoor environment?

Has the building been recently remodeled or has the building use changed?

Has routine maintenance been delayed or the maintenance plan been altered?

Always consider consulting a health professional to address any employee health concerns.

Remediation Plan
Remediation includes both the identification and correction of the conditions that permit mold growth, as well as the steps to safely and effectively remove mold damaged materials. Before planning the remediation assess the extent of the mold or moisture problem and the type of damaged materials. If you choose to hire outside assistance to do the cleanup, make sure the contractor has experience with mold remediation. Check references and ask the contractor to follow the recommendations in EPA’s publication, “Mold Remediation in Schools and Commercial Buildings,” or other guidelines developed by professional or governmental organizations. The remediation plan should include steps to permanently correct the water or moisture problem. The plan should cover the use of appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). It also should include steps to carefully contain and remove moldy building materials in a manner that will prevent further contamination. Remediation plans may vary greatly depending on the size and complexity of the job, and may require revision if circumstances change or new facts are discovered. If you suspect that the HVAC system is contaminated with mold, or if mold is present near the intake to the system, contact the National Air Duct Cleaners Association (NADCA), or consult EPA’s guide, “Should You Have the Air Ducts in Your Home Cleaned?” before taking further action. Do not run the HVAC system if you know or suspect that it is contaminated with mold, as it could spread contamination throughout the building.

If the water or mold damage was caused by sewage or other contaminated water, consult a professional who has experience cleaning and repairing buildings damaged by contaminated water. The remediation manager’s highest priority must be to protect the health and safety of the building occupants and remediators. Remediators should avoid exposing themselves and others to mold-laden dusts as they conduct their cleanup activities. Caution should be used to prevent mold and mold spores from being dispersed throughout the air where they can be inhaled by building occupants.

In some cases, especially those involving large areas of contamination, the remediation plan may include temporary relocation of some or all of the building occupants. When deciding if relocating occupants is necessary, consideration should be given to the size and type of mold growth, the type and extent of health effects reported by the occupants, the potential health risks that could be associated with the remediation activity, and the amount of disruption this activity is likely to cause. In addition, before deciding to relocate occupants, one should also evaluate the remediator’s ability to contain/minimize possible aerosolization of mold spores given their expertise and the physical parameters of the workspace.

When possible, remediation activities should be scheduled during off hours when building occupants are less likely to be affected. Remediators, particularly those with health related concerns, may wish to check with their physicians or other health-care professionals before working on mold remediation or investigating potentially moldy areas. If any individual has health concerns, doubts, or questions before beginning a remediation/cleanup project, he or she should consult a health professional.

Mold Remediation/Cleanup Methods
The purpose of mold remediation is to correct the moisture problem and to remove moldy and contaminated materials to prevent human exposure and further damage to building materials and furnishings. Porous materials that are wet and have mold growing on them may have to be discarded because molds can infiltrate porous substances and grow on or fill in empty spaces or crevices. This mold can be difficult or impossible to remove completely. As a general rule, simply killing the mold, for example, with biocide is not enough. The mold must be removed, since the chemicals and proteins, which can cause a reaction in humans, are present even in dead mold. A variety of cleanup methods are available for remediating damage to building materials and furnishings caused by moisture control problems and mold growth. The specific method or group of methods used will depend on the type of material affected. Some methods that may be used include the following:

Wet Vacuum
Wet vacuums are vacuum cleaners designed to collect water. They can be used to remove water from floors, carpets, and hard surfaces where water has accumulated. They should not be used to vacuum porous materials, such as gypsum board. Wet vacuums should be used only on wet materials, as spores may be exhausted into the indoor environment if insufficient liquid is present. The tanks, hoses, and attachments of these vacuums should be thoroughly cleaned and dried after use since mold and mold spores may adhere to equipment surfaces.

Damp Wipe
Mold can generally be removed from nonporous surfaces by wiping or scrubbing with water and detergent. It is important to dry these surfaces quickly and thoroughly to discourage further mold growth. Instructions for cleaning surfaces, as listed on product labels, should always be read and followed.

HEPA Vacuum
HEPA (High-Efficiency Particulate Air) vacuums are recommended for final cleanup of remediation areas after materials have been thoroughly dried and contaminated materials removed. HEPA vacuums also are recommended for cleanup of dust that may have settled on surfaces outside the remediation area. Care must be taken to assure that the filter is properly seated in the vacuum so that all the air passes through the filter. When changing the vacuum filter, remediators should wear respirators, appropriate personal protective clothing, gloves, and eye protection to prevent exposure to any captured mold and other contaminants. The filter and contents of the HEPA vacuum must be disposed of in impermeable bags or containers in such a way as to prevent release of the debris.

Disposal of Damaged Materials
Building materials and furnishings contaminated with mold growth that are not salvageable should be placed in sealed impermeable bags or closed containers while in the remediation area. These materials can usually be discarded as ordinary construction waste. It is important to package mold-contaminated materials in this fashion to minimize the dispersion of mold spores. Large items with heavy mold growth should be covered with polyethylene sheeting and sealed with duct tape before being removed from the remediation area. Some jobs may require the use of dust-tight chutes to move large quantities of debris to a dumpster strategically placed outside a window in the remediation area.

Use of Biocides
The use of a biocide, such as chlorine bleach, is not recommended as a routine practice during mold remediation, although there may be instances where professional judgment may indicate its use (for example, when immuno-compromised individuals are present). In most cases, it is not possible or desirable to sterilize an area, as a background level of mold spores comparable to the level in outside air will persist. However, the spores in the ambient air will not cause further problems if the moisture level in the building has been corrected. Biocides are toxic to animals and humans, as well as to mold.

If you choose to use disinfectants or biocides, always ventilate the area, using outside air if possible, and exhaust the air to the outdoors. When using fans, take care not to extend the zone of contamination by distributing mold spores to a previously unaffected area. Never mix chlorine bleach solution with other cleaning solutions or detergents that contain ammonia because this may produce highly toxic vapors and create a hazard to workers. Some biocides are considered pesticides, and some states require that only registered pesticide applicators apply these products in schools, commercial buildings, and homes. Make sure anyone applying a biocide is properly licensed where required. Fungicides are commonly applied to outdoor plants, soil, and grains as a powder or spray. Examples of fungicides include hexachlorobenzene, organomercurials, pentachlorophenol, phthalimides, and dithiocarbamates.

Do not use fungicides developed for outdoor use in any indoor application, as they can be extremely toxic to animals and humans in an enclosed environment. When you use biocides as a disinfectant or a pesticide, or as a fungicide, you should use appropriate PPE, including respirators. Always, read and follow product label precautions. It is a violation of Federal (EPA) law to use a biocide in any manner inconsistent with its label direction.

Mold Remediation Guidelines
This section presents remediation guidelines for building materials that have or are likely to have mold growth. The guidelines are designed to protect the health of cleanup personnel and other workers during remediation. These guidelines are based on the size of the area impacted by mold contamination. Please note that these are guidelines; some professionals may prefer other remediation methods, and certain circumstances may require different approaches or variations on the approaches described below. If possible, remediation activities should be scheduled during off-hours when building occupants are less likely to be affected. Although the level of personal protection suggested in these guidelines is based on the total surface area contaminated and the potential for remediator or occupant exposure, professional judgment always should play a part in remediation decisions.

These remediation guidelines are based on the size of the affected area to make it easier for remediators to select appropriate techniques, not on the basis of research showing there is a specific method appropriate at a certain number of square feet.

The guidelines have been designed to help construct a remediation plan. The remediation manager should rely on professional judgment and experience to adapt the guidelines to particular situations. When in doubt, caution is advised. Consult an experienced mold remediator for more information.

Level I: Small Isolated Areas (10 sq. ft or less) - e.g., ceiling tiles, small areas on walls.
Remediation can be conducted by the regular building maintenance staff as long as they are trained on proper clean-up methods, personal protection, and potential health hazards. This training can be performed as part of a program to comply with the requirements of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200).

Respiratory protection (e.g., N-95 disposable respirator) is recommended. Respirators must be used in accordance with the OSHA respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134). Gloves and eye protection should be worn.

The work area should be unoccupied. Removing people from spaces adjacent to the work area is not necessary, but is recommended for infants (less than 12 months old), persons recovering from recent surgery, immune-suppressed people, or people with chronic inflammatory lung diseases (e.g., asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and severe allergies).

Containment of the work area is not necessary. Dust suppression methods, such as misting (not soaking) surfaces prior to remediation, are recommended.

Contaminated materials that cannot be cleaned should be removed from the building in a sealed impermeable plastic bag. These materials may be disposed of as ordinary waste.

The work area and areas used by remediation workers for egress should be cleaned with a damp cloth or mop and a detergent solution.

All areas should be left dry and visibly free from contamination and debris.

Level II: Mid-Sized Isolated Areas (10-30 sq. ft.) – e.g., individual wallboard panels.
Remediation can be conducted by the regular building maintenance staff. Such persons should receive training on proper clean-up methods, personal protection, and potential health hazards. This training can be performed as part of a program to comply with the requirements of the OSHA Hazard Communication Standard (29 CFR 1910.1200).

Respiratory protection (e.g., N-95 disposable respirator) is recommended. Respirators must be used in accordance with the OSHA respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134). Gloves and eye protection should be worn.

The work area should be unoccupied. Removing people from spaces adjacent to the work area is not necessary, but is recommended for infants (less than 12 months old), persons recovering from recent surgery, immune-suppressed people, or people with chronic inflammatory lung diseases (e.g., asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and severe allergies).

Surfaces in the work area that could become contaminated should be covered with a secured plastic sheet(s) before remediation to contain dust/debris and prevent further contamination.

Dust suppression methods, such as misting (not soaking) surfaces prior to remediation, are recommended.

Contaminated materials that cannot be cleaned should be removed from the building in a sealed impermeable plastic bag. These materials may be disposed of as ordinary waste.

The work area and areas used by remediation workers for egress should be HEPA vacuumed and cleaned with a damp cloth or mop and a detergent solution.

All areas should be left dry and visibly free from contamination and debris.

Level III: Large Isolated Areas (30 –100 square feet) – e.g., several wallboard panels. Industrial hygienists or other environmental health and safety professionals with experience performing microbial investigations and/or mold remediation should be consulted prior to remediation activities to provide oversight for the project.

The following procedures may be implemented depending upon the severity of the contamination:

It is recommended that personnel be trained in the handling of hazardous materials and equipped with respiratory protection (e.g., N-95 disposable respirator). Respirators must be used in accordance with the OSHA respiratory protection standard (29 CFR 1910.134). Gloves and eye protection should be worn.

Surfaces in the work area and areas directly adjacent that could become decontaminated should be covered with a secured plastic sheet(s) before remediation to contain dust/ debris and prevent further contamination.

Seal ventilation ducts/grills in the work area and areas directly adjacent with plastic sheeting.

The work area and areas directly adjacent should be unoccupied. Removing people from spaces near the work area is recommended for infants, persons having undergone recent surgery, immunesuppressed people, or people with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. (e.g., asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and severe allergies).

Dust suppression methods, such as misting (not soaking) surfaces prior to mediation, are recommended.

Contaminated materials that cannot be cleaned should be removed from the building in sealed impermeable plastic bags. These materials may be disposed of as ordinary waste.
The work area and surrounding areas should be HEPA vacuumed and cleaned with a damp cloth or mop and a detergent solution.

All areas should be left dry and visibly free from contamination and debris.

Note: If abatement procedures are expected to generate a lot of dust (e.g., abrasive cleaning of contaminated surfaces, demolition of plaster walls) or the visible concentration of the mold is heavy (blanket coverage as opposed to patchy), it is recommended that the remediation procedures for Level IV be followed.

Level IV: Extensive Contamination (greater than 100 contiguous square feet in an area).
Industrial hygienists or other environmental health and safety professionals with experience performing microbial investigations and/or mold remediation should be consulted prior to remediation activities to provide oversight for the project.

The following procedures may be implemented depending upon the severity of the contamination:

Personnel trained in the handling of hazardous materials and equipped with:
Full face piece respirators with HEPA cartridges;

Disposable protective clothing covering entire body including both head and shoes; and
Gloves.

Containment of the affected area:
Complete isolation of work area from occupied spaces using plastic sheeting sealed with duct tape (including ventilation ducts/grills, fixtures, and other openings);

The use of an exhaust fan with a HEPA filter to generate negative pressurization; and
Airlocks and decontamination room.

If contaminant practices effectively prevent mold from migrating from affected areas, it may not be necessary to remove people from surrounding work areas. However, removal is still recommended for infants, persons having undergone recent surgery, immune- suppressed people, or people with chronic inflammatory lung diseases. (e.g., asthma, hypersensitivity pneumonitis, and severe allergies).

Contaminated materials that cannot be cleaned should be removed from the building in sealed impermeable plastic bags. The outside of the bags should be cleaned with a damp cloth and a detergent solution or HEPA vacuumed in the decontamination chamber prior to their transport to uncontaminated areas of the building. These materials may be disposed of as ordinary waste.

The contained area and decontamination room should be HEPA vacuumed and cleaned with a damp cloth or mopped with a detergent solution and be visibly clean prior to the removal of isolation barriers.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)
Any remediation work that disturbs mold and causes mold spores to become airborne increases the degree of respiratory exposure. Actions that tend to disperse mold include: breaking apart moldy porous materials such as wallboard; destructive invasive procedures to examine or remediate mold growth in a wall cavity; removal of contaminated wallpaper by stripping or peeling; using fans to dry items or ventilate areas. The primary function of personal protective equipment is to prevent the inhalation and ingestion of mold and mold spores and to avoid mold contact with the skin or eyes. The following sections discuss the various types of PPE that may be used during remediation activities. Skin and Eye Protection Gloves protect the skin from contact with mold, as well as from potentially irritating cleaning solutions. Long gloves that extend to the middle of the forearm are recommended. The glove material should be selected based on the type of substance/ chemical being handled.

If you are using a biocide such as chlorine bleach, or a strong cleaning solution, you should select gloves made from natural rubber, neoprene, nitrile, polyurethane, or PVC. If you are using a mild detergent or plain water, ordinary household rubber gloves may be used. To protect your eyes, use properly fitted goggles or a full face piece respirator. Goggles must be designed to prevent the entry of dust and small particles. Safety glasses or goggles with open vent holes are not appropriate in mold remediation. Respiratory Protection Respirators protect cleanup workers from inhaling airborne mold, contaminated dust, and other particulates that are released during the remediation process. Either a half mask or full face piece air-purifying respirator can be used. A full face piece respirator provides both respiratory and eye protection.

Please refer to the discussion of the different levels of remediation to ascertain the type of respiratory protection recommended. Respirators used to provide protection from mold and mold spores must be certified by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). More protective respirators may have to be selected and used if toxic contaminants such as asbestos or lead are encountered during remediation.

As specified by OSHA in 29 CFR 1910.134 individuals who use respirators must be properly trained, have medical clearance, and be properly fit tested before they begin using a respirator. In addition, use of respirators requires the employer to develop and implement a written respiratory protection program, with worksite-specific procedures and elements. Protective Clothing While conducting building inspections and remediation work, individuals may encounter hazardous biological agents as well as chemical and physical hazards. Consequently, appropriate personal protective clothing (i.e., reusable or disposable) is recommended to minimize cross-contamination between work areas and clean areas, to prevent the transfer and spread of mold and other contaminants to street clothing, and to eliminate skin contact with mold and potential chemical exposures. Disposable PPE should be discarded after it is used. They should be placed into impermeable bags, and usually can be discarded as ordinary construction waste.

Appropriate precautions and protective equipment for biocide applicators should be selected based on the product manufacturer’s warnings and recommendations (e.g., goggles or face shield, aprons or other protective clothing, gloves, and respiratory protection).

Sampling for Mold
Is it necessary to sample for mold? In most cases, if visible mold growth is present, sampling is unnecessary. Air sampling for mold may not be part of a routine assessment because decisions about appropriate remediation strategies often can be made on the basis of a visual inspection. Your first step should be to inspect for any evidence of water damage and visible mold growth. Testing for mold is expensive, and there should be a clear reason for doing so. In many cases, it is not economically practical or useful to test for mold growth on surfaces or for airborne spores in the building. In addition, there are no standards for “acceptable” levels of mold in buildings, and the lack of a definitive correlation between exposure levels and health effects makes interpreting the data difficult, if not impossible.

Testing is usually done to compare the levels and types of mold spores found inside the building with those found outside of the building or for comparison with another location in the building. In addition, air sampling may provide tangible evidence supporting a hypothesis that investigators have formulated. For example, air sampling may show a higher concentration of the same species of mold when the HVAC is operating than when it has been turned off. This finding may convince the investigators that the mold is growing within, and being disseminated by, the HVAC system. Conversely, negative results may persuade investigators to abandon this hypothesis and to consider other sources of mold growth or dissemination.

If you know you have a mold problem, it is more important to spend time and resources removing the mold and solving the moisture problem that causes the moldy conditions than to undertake extensive testing for the type and quantity of mold. If you are in doubt about sampling, consult an industrial hygienist or other environmental health or safety professional with experience in microbial investigations to help you decide if sampling for mold is necessary or useful, and to identify persons who can conduct any necessary sampling.

Due to the wide difference in individual susceptibility to mold contamination, sampling results sampling may have limited application. However, sampling results can be used as a guide to determine the extent of an infestation and the effectiveness of the cleanup. Their interpretation is best left to the industrial hygienist or other environmental health or safety professional. Sampling for mold should be conducted by professionals with specific experience in designing mold-sampling protocols, sampling methods for microbial contaminants, and interpretation of results.

For additional information on air sampling, refer to the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists’ document, “Bioaerosols: Assessment and Control.” In addition, sampling and analysis should follow any other methods recommended by either OSHA, NIOSH, EPA, the American Industrial Hygiene Association, or other recognized professional guidelines. Types of samples can include: air samples, surface samples, bulk samples, and water samples from condensate drain pans or cooling towers. Microscopic identification of the spores/ colonies requires considerable expertise.

These services are not routinely available from commercial laboratories. Documented quality control in the laboratories used for analysis of the bulk, surface, and other air samples is necessary. The American Industrial Hygiene Association offers accreditation to microbial laboratories (Environmental Microbiology Laboratory Accreditation Program (EMLAP)). Accredited laboratories must participate in quarterly proficiency testing (Environmental Microbiology Proficiency Analytical Testing Program (EMPAT)).

Remediation Equipment
There are various types of equipment useful in mold assessment and remediation. Some of the more common items include:

Moisture Meters
Moisture meters measure/monitor moisture levels in building materials, and may be helpful for measuring the moisture content in a variety of building materials following water damage. They also can be used to monitor the progress of drying damaged materials. These direct reading devices have a thin probe that is inserted into the material to be tested or pressed directly against the surface of the material. Moisture meters can be used on materials such as carpet, wallboard, wood, brick, and concrete.

Humidity Gauges or Meters
Humidity meters can be used to monitor indoor humidity. Inexpensive (less than $50) models that monitor both temperature and humidity are available.

Humidistat
A humidistat is a control device that can be connected to an HVAC system and adjusted so that if the humidity level rises above a set point, the HVAC system will automatically turn on and reduce the humidity below the established point.

Boroscope
A boroscope is a hand-held tool that allows users to see potential mold problems inside walls, ceiling plenums, crawl spaces, and other tight areas. It consists of a video camera on the end of a flexible “snake.” No major drilling or cutting of dry wall is required.

HVAC System Filter
High-quality filters must be used in a HVAC system during remediation because conventional HVAC filters are typically not effective in filtering particles the size of mold spores. Consult an engineer for the appropriate filter efficiency for your specific HVAC system, and consider upgrading your filters if necessary. A filter with a minimum efficiency of 50 to 60% or a rating of MERV 8, as determined by Test Standard 52.2 of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, may be appropriate. Remember to change filters as appropriate, especially following any remediation activities. Remove filters in a manner that minimizes the reentry of mold and other toxic substances into the workplace. Under certain circumstances, it may be necessary to wear appropriate PPE while performing this task.

How Do You Know When You Have Finished Remediation/Cleanup?
You must have identified and completely corrected the source of the water or moisture problem.

Mold removal should be complete. Visible mold, mold-damaged materials, and moldy odors should no longer be present.

Sampling, if conducted, should show that the level and types of mold and mold spores inside the building are similar to those found outside.

You should revisit the site(s) after remediation, and it should show no signs of moldy or musty odors, water damage, or mold growth.

Conclusion
After correcting water or moisture infiltration, the prompt removal of contaminated material and structural repair is the primary response to mold contamination in buildings. In all situations, the underlying cause of water accumulation must be rectified or the mold growth will reoccur. Emphasis should be placed on preventing contamination through proper building and HVAC system maintenance and prompt repair of water damaged areas.

Effective communication with building occupants is an essential component of all large-scale remediation efforts. The building owner, management, and/or employer should notify occupants in the affected area(s) of the presence of mold. Notification should include a description of the remedial measures to be taken and a timetable for completion. Group meetings held before and after remediation with full disclosure of plans and results can be an effective communication mechanism. Individuals with persistent health problems that appear to be related to mold exposure should see their physicians for a referral to practitioners who are trained in occupational/environmental medicine or related specialties and are knowledgeable about these types of exposures.