Spaulding Decon topped the Entrepreneur Franchise 500 crime-scene cleaning category in 2022. Here, CEO Laura Spaulding shares her journey from humble beginnings as a solo-, woman-led startup, to 20 to 30 new franchises a year and millions of social media followers.

Barry Rice, CSP, considers safety data sheets the user manuals for chemicals. Here, he highlights three of the most valuable parts of an SDS and how OSHA expects U.S. organizations to manage them. He also provides reference information and advice on SDS training.

The approach often taken by contractors is the simple and quick method to set up containment. In reality, the design and construction of containment often takes far longer than the actual remediation. Containment is one of the highest liabilities that impacts the contractor, as well as the client, and should be given priority.

The Indoor Air Quality Association is hosting its 2022 Annual Meeting & Expo February 22-25 in Tucson, Arizona. In this episode of Ask the Expert, IAQA President Jay Stake discusses the educational program of more than 40 sessions on topics including infectious diseases, mold remediation, and regulations and standards.

“Hideous piles of plastic in our landfills or incinerators aside, containment is never a bad thing. Just like running a HEPA on every job site is never a bad thing, building containment is also never bad, from a purely scientific perspective. These decisions, however, do not happen in a vacuum,” Keith Gangitano writes.

Dr. Gene Cole shares stories that stick with him regarding the health and safety of restoration contractors and their customers. He also offers COVID-19 cleaning and disinfection tips in the face of the Omicron variant.

In the same way our bodies produce antibodies to fight disease, plants produce germ-killing oils to protect from invading microbes, giving businesses more reason to go botanical when disinfecting for better health and a healthier environment.

Michael Pinto, CSP, CMP, RTPE, discusses mold sensitivity, mycotoxins, demand for mold remediation contractors who can properly serve mold-sensitive customers and what makes these projects unique.

In this column, Laura Spaulding, CEO of Spaulding Decon, shares three of the toughest hoarding cleanup jobs she has worked on in her 15-plus years specializing in crime scene and hoarding cleaning. “The tougher the challenge, the bigger the reward, and I have faced some tough ones,” Spaulding writes.

To protect the health and safety of attendees, the Jan. 18-20 Healthy Buildings Conference will take place in a live, virtual format. More than 200 presentations and workshops will be featured on "Bridging the Gap Between Research and Practice — In the Age of COVID-19 and Beyond.”