The home heating oil industry has a long and proud history, and Fuel Oil News has been there supporting it since 1935. It is an industry that has faced many challenges during that time. In its 77th year, Fuel Oil News is doing more than just holding
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/739848
THE BUILDING PERFORMANCE INSTITUTE (BPI), based in Malta, N.Y., announced the nationwide launch of the Healthy Home Evaluator (HHE) certifi- cation. This certification will help the nation's home performance, weatherization and healthy housing workforce conduct assessments in homes to deter- mine conditions that may adversely affect occupant health and safety. "BPI has always focused on health and safety issues such as carbon monoxide and natural gas leaks," said BPI CEO Larry Zarker. "Now with the HHE, we are including a deeper look at home issues that could negatively impact the health and safety of America's families." BPI developed the HHE certification in partnership with the Green & Healthy Homes Initiative (GHHI), a national nonprofit working with partners in over 30 cit- ies and counties to break the link between unhealthy housing and unhealthy children. Representatives from Children's Mercy Hospital (CMH) of Kansas City, Missouri helped develop questions for the HHE exam, assisted with curriculum development and developed a train-the-trainer initiative. An experienced team of subject matter experts in public health, building science and healthy housing created the certification blueprint, job task analy- sis and the bank of HHE test questions. Through a contract from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes, Healthy Housing Solutions, Inc., (Solutions), a subsidiary of National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH), developed the curriculum for an HHE certification study course. Through this contract, Solutions also provided BPI with funding to promote the HHE. Peter Ashley, Director of the Policy and Standards Division in the Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control at HUD said, "We know that there are millions of homes in the U.S. with lead and other key health and safety hazards that need to be addressed. Development of the HHE certification is a tremendous opportunity for BPI-certified professionals to obtain the additional skills needed to expand our stock of healthy housing. In doing this, we will work together to create homes that are not only energy efficient, but safe and healthy as well." In April 2016, BPI initiated a pilot phase of the HHE certifica- tion. During the pilot, which concluded on September 9th, 2016, 335 BPI certified professionals took the HHE exam. The HHE builds on a prerequisite of one of three other BPI certifications: Building Analyst (BA), Energy Auditor (EA) or Quality Control Inspector (QCI). The HHE assesses the risk of key home-based health hazards including asthma triggers from dust, moisture and BPI LAUNCHES THE HEALTHY HOME EVALUATOR CERTIFICATION NATIONALLY 2 FALL LITERATURE SHOWCASE 2016 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com "BPI has always focused on health and safety issues such as carbon monoxide and natural gas leaks. Now with the HHE, we are including a deeper look at home issues that could nega- tively impact the health and safety of America's families." -BPI CEO Larry Zarker