Professional Qualifications:
Certified Industrial Hygienist (CIH)

     Yes, it's Personal! Every year new letters and acronyms seem to be added to the names of individuals performing environmental consulting. These credentials, all-too-often, reflect limited training received and possibly an examination passed. In many cases, instant experts with only a high school diploma are created by not-for-profit associations who provide 1-5 days of training in asbestos, lead, IAQ, etc.

     Don't be misled! There is a big difference between credentials and professional certifications. The key difference between the two was the focus of Standard 1100 published in September 2008 by the National Organization for Competency Assurance (NOCA). Frankly, as a CIH, I did not have to wait for NOCA to recognize CIH as the real professional certification for environmental consulting. The American Board of Industrial Hygiene (ABIH) has been an organization of environmental professionals since the 1960's. To be eligible to become a CIH, each applicant must have a science college degree, five years of proven/documented experience and qualified references from peer CIH professionals. The applicant must then pass a rigorous examination encompassing all aspects of the environmental field. Once certified, a CIH must maintain and document their competency by continuing education in stringently approved courses. To date, there are only 6,442 CIHs worldwide. This is a testament to the high standard that must be obtained and maintained.

     Like the Professional Engineer (P.E.), the lawyer who passes the BAR, and the doctor who passes their boards, CIH's share a common goal to represent their profession with pride, excellence, and professional ethics. At AET, our CIH commitment began at our inception and has grown to now include 3 full-time CIHs on staff with over 80 years of combined experience.

Professional Qualifications: AIHA Lab

     American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) Accreditation is the benchmark for laboratory analysis in the environmental consulting field to identify the highest qualities of performance, quality control and professional ethics. AIHA Accreditation is the prerequisite used by most states/cities for laboratory licensing purposes.

     To become an accredited laboratory, the laboratory must have a strict written QA/QC manual, qualified/experienced staff and maintain accuracy of analysis as demonstrated by quarterly Proficiency Analytical Testing (PAT rounds) administered by the AIHA. Performance and quality control are verified by AIHA site inspections during the accreditation process and every 3 years for re-accrediation.

     WHY AET? AET's Media, PA laboratory has been AIHA accredited since 1986. AET's lab has been re-accredited on 7 consecutive occasions. AET's laboratory director is a CIH, degreed Chemical Engineer with over 24 years of experience. Our laboratory manager has over 20 years of experience. Our laboratory has analyzed over 600,000 samples since its inception. AET's laboratory is also accredited by the National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) since 1990 and has been re-accredited on 6 consecutive occasions. Dedication to the highest professional standards and ethics is the norm at AET and is proven each day for each sample we analyze.

Professional Qualifications:
Environmental Professional for Phase I ESA's

     ASTM Standard Practice for Environmental Site Assessments: Phase 1 Environmental Site Assessment Process (Designation E1527-05) defines an Environmental Professional "as a person who possesses sufficient specific education, training, and experience necessary to exercise professional judgement to develop opinions and conclusions regarding conditions indiciative of releases or threatened releases on, at, in, or adjacent to a property".

Qualifications of an Environmental Professional include:

• Current professional engineer or professional geologist and three years full time relevant experience.
• Bachelors or higher degree in engineering or science and 5 years of full-time relevant experience.
• Licensed or certified by the federal government or state (currently no licensing is provided)
• Equivalent of 10 years of full time relevant experience.

     WHY AET? At AET, all Phase I's are completed or supervised by our CIH staff or by individuals who exceed the education, training and experience levels within the definition of Environmental Professionals. We take the term "Environmental Professional" personally and our investigative procedures and work products reflect our commitments to our clients.

New - NJ Law:  Site Remediation Reform Act

     This law was adopted to break a 20,000 case log jam of remediation projects pending before the NJDEP by shifting specific site responsibilities/authorities to licensed environmental consultants. This law defines these professionals as Licensed Site Remediation Professionals (LSRPs).

     The LSRP, without NJDEP oversight, can perform site investigations, oversee the remediation project and certify that the remediation was performed in compliance with applicable statutory and regulatory requirements. At the conclusion of remediation, the LSRP will issue a Response Action Outcome (RAO) which will take the place of the "No Further Action" Letter that was issued by the NJDEP.

Expected advantages to our clients include:

• Significant reduction in the amount of time for completing investigations and remediation of contaminated sites.
• Greater flexibility to employ innovative approaches when performing the site investigation and remediation.

     Lastly, this should result in a cost savings to the client. Similar programs are in effect in states such as Massachusetts and Connecticut. AET's professional staff is closely monitoring this law and applying for licensing to assist our clients with their future needs.

FIN 47: Due Diligence, Disclosure of Environmental Liabilities

     FIN 47 is the standard protocol used by the Financial Accounting Standards Board for identifying, estimating and disclosing the environmental liabilities associated with the retirement of a fixed asset (such as a plant, property or equipment). It is a key component of mergers, acquisitions, securities offerings and other financial transactions to identify the contingent liabilities and costs that are embedded in existing assets.

     FIN 47 states that the fair value of a liability should be recognized when incurred - generally upon acquisition, construction or development of the asset. These contingent liabilities and associated costs have resulted in significant charges to earnings on public companys' annual reports.

     For Example, a client purchases an industrial building containing asbestos. The prospective buyer will require the seller to remove the asbestos prior to sale or will factor in the cost of asbestos management and abatement into the building's purchase price. FIN 47 requires the cost of asbestos abatement to be accrued immediately for buildings already owned by a company or at the time of acquisition for newly acquired assets, using the fair value of such costs. Adherence to FIN 47 ensures that financial statements comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principals regarding the retirement of assets.

     Check with your legal and accounting departments on this topic. AET can assist in the identification of environmental risks and the development of remediation costs.

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