The Case
(and reasoning)
for Radon Licensing and Certification
in Missouri
As any person ages it is normal to look back over the years and reflect on what has transpired in their lives. It is what some folks call life perspective, (otherwise known as living in the past). As I look back over one very important aspect of my life (my work in the radon industry – 27 years and counting) I tend to reflect on where we have been and where we are going to be,
and what I would like to accomplish within the next year or so and, even 5 or 10 years down the road.
Recently, we (a large group of dedicated folks in our local region who work on issues related to lung cancer) have been working on moving forward the radon industry / radon awareness issues here in the state
of Missouri. Sometimes that is through educating the general public about the dangers (health effects) of radon gas exposure and sometimes (in this case that we are talking about here) that is done through the local legislation process, which is part of the, down
the road process I just mentioned.
As a side note, I must say that I am not a fan of big government. But at the same time, one of the main reasons (one of the only reasons) for the government
is to protect the general public from dangers, seen and unseen. In this case, radon gas.For the past 1.5 years
(I wish I could say I got it started, but I did not) we have had a dedicated group of like-minded individuals that has been working on bringing licensing / certification here to Missouri in regard to the radon industry. That
is, radon testing and radon mitigation – licensing / certification.
So, Missouri is what I call the poor stepchildren regarding certification / licensing of radon contractors here in the mid-west (as of right now). Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas (the rest of our chapter which mimics the EPA region 7 area) all have some type of certification and several laws on the books in regard to licensing of radon contractors in their state, all tailored to the needs of the people, of the state.
Missouri is the only state in the region without Licensing / certification and our goal is to change
that. That is a given because the issues surrounding a non-licensing state are huge. It creates issues with the quality of work that is done, (or lack thereof). Educational issues amongst the radon contractor themselves ... do they even know what they are doing? Where did they get there training, if any? As it stands now you could be selling bread on the street corner today and doing radon testing tomorrow. That is not
By Jim Medley May 2023
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