There are 75 radon contractors or professionals in Missouri certified through NRPP , and around three-quarters of them are in major metropolitan areas of Kansas City and St . Louis . Most are certified to test for the existence of radon , but only 26 are certified for mitigation .
DHHS distributes free radon tests , but in order to have accurate results , the testing kit needs to be set up exactly per the directions . If done correctly , they are accurate , but there ’ s a lot of room for error , Malone said .
The same room for error exists for professional companies that may be doing work without the training or certification , Cheri Summa , a certified radon professional based in St . Louis , said . Companies that offer radon mitigation and testing services without certifications are abundantly common in Missouri , she said , since there are no barriers to entering the industry .
“ A false reading could be the difference between developing lung cancer or not ,” Rachel Sanford said . “ You can be pretty certain that a certified person will test accurately , but for folks who aren ’ t certified , it ’ s really just kind of a guessing game .”
Nine out of 10 times Summa gets a call for a radon installation repair , she ends up fixing a system that was installed improperly , incompletely or inefficiently in the first place by another company .
“ Sometimes it ’ s so bad we have to tear out the system and replace it ,” she said . In Missouri , it ’ s not required to test a radon system after it ’ s been installed . “ I ’ ve had countless conversations with homeowners where I ’ ve had to break the news that the system they ’ ve had for 15 years never mitigated radon properly ,” she said .