Formation of a national moisture management task force will befinalized at the PIA Western Alliance's second Moisture and MoldManagement Summit, April 27 in Irvine, Calif.

The task force was established during the first summit inSeattle, Wash., earlier this year.

"This group will be charged with writing a public policy basedon moisture management standards that we have already developed,"said Clark Sitzes, PIA Western Alliance executive vice president."The PIA's goal is to take that policy to the National Associationof Insurance Commissioners and to state legislators around thecountry."

Moisture management assessments of properties prior tounderwriting will help reduce insurance risk, provide anopportunity to reduce premiums, and enable offerings of extendedlines of insurance, PIA West said.

When builders implement this moisture management system,liability claims decline, the association asserted. It added thatmany health issues are reduced and properties that experiencedprevious water or mold problems can be evaluated to determine ifthe issue has been properly eradicated.

The proposed standards are based on a system developed by MoldTechnologies, a remediation contractor based in Salem, Ore.

Mr. Sitzes said this issue needs to involve not only theinsurance industry but also members of the banking, contracting,building and real estate industries, which he called on toparticipate. The association said it and Mold Technologies arecontacting representatives from these groups to be a part of thetask force.

Mr. Sitzes said he also hopes to have the task force finalizedby the April 27 meeting.