Aim: Professional elimination of indoor
mould is of great importance since mould
can also cause health problems. The guidelines
for assessment and elimination are not
being implemented rigorously enough. This
study assessed to what extent professional
companies in the field implement official
guidelines for mould remediation, and thus
which qualification measures are needed to
improve remediation in practice.
Collective and Methods: The test groups
comprised 9 professional painters who were
compared with 9 painters and 8 building
preservation workers with unknown qualifications.
For qualitative case analysis of 26
on-site inspections by professional renovation
inspectors, a partly standardized interview
was used while accompanying the inspectors
during their inspection.
Results: Professionally trained painters
tended to observe health-relevant aspects of
mould removal slightly more often than did
the painters with unknown qualifications.
They conducted inspections of the damage
more often and more comprehensively, but
they were no more effective in determining
the cause of the problem. They assessed
health aspects more appropriately, which was
evident in their better protection of personnel,
but not in their protection of the rest of
the site nor in the extent of their remediation
measures. All in all, the results for professional
painters were better but were still insufficient,
and compliance with health guidelines for
mould remediation needs improvement.
Conclusions: Poor implementation of official
guidelines for mould remediation poses
health risks for occupants and remediation
professionals alike. Optimizing occupational
health and consumer protection is necessary,
as is quality transparence for customers
requesting mould remediation services. The
causes of the poor compliance remain to be
determined. Further education with qualifying
examinations needs to be extended to
include further quality assurance measures to
ensure that the information communicated
during instruction and training are implemented
consistently and updated regularly.
