Tony Wheelwright, IICRC Chairman – IICRC Past, Present, & Future

This week on IAQ Radio Tony Wheelwright the new IICRC Chairman joins us to discuss the past present and future at IICRC. Mr. Wheelwright joined the board of directors in 2009.  Prior to his retirement, he ran a multi-truck cleaning and inspection service for 36 years. Mr. Wheelwright has been hard at work for several years helping Past Chair Darrell Paulson engineer many of the big changes that have occurred. Some have been very successful, some have not been so successful and some are yet to be determined. We look forward to being one of the first to interview Tony in his new role. Its great to see him come out from behind the scenes and take some credit for the recent changes. Lest see what else he has in mind.

                                                             Funny accent, serious guy

Having lived in Britain, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and Canada, IICRC chairman Tony Wheelwright brings a global perspective. With an annual budget of $5MM and over 53K registrants worldwide the IICRC is truly the elephant in the room. Tony has big ideas, is committed to partnering and trying to work together with “our cousins in broader industry” and is passionate about the impact that cleaning has on health, indoor air quality and safety.

Nuggets mined from today’s episode:
•The IICRC is 40 years old and was started by the late Edgar York. The IICRC was originally a for profit organization that became a nonprofit.
•Incorporated in Washington State, the IICRC is most likely a one of a kind; a nonprofit organization with shareholders. IICRC’s governance model has evolved.
•Turnaround at the IICRC began when the organization shifted away from hiring paid consultants to hiring certified professionals. Change for the better continued with: the decision to hire a professional paid president, creation and adoption of new bylaws, institute term limits, requiring RFPs for all paid positions, outreach to industry partners in North America and overseas, fulfillment of the planned goal to purchase a building, publishing a peer reviewed journal, synchronization of a worldwide website.
•The IICRC is a standards writing body & certification course creator.
•The IICRC is not a trade association.
•The IICRC is legally not allowed to benefit members.
•A history fan, Tony seeks to preserve industry history with a museum and archive.
•In early 2014 the IICRC will begin to publish a Technical Journal with the goal of scientists being able to directly interact with the technician who do the work.
•”You only need a voice to sway a vote.”
•”It’s not political it’s a health issue.”
•Unification of broader industry with commonality of: health, safety and cleaning.
•MOU’s are a mechanism which can build trust between organizations. non binding and “a first date, gentlemen’s agreement to stay in touch at upper level”
•While he wouldn’t comment on litigation with former standard’s consultant Larry Cooper, we did pry out of him that the IICRC filed the litigation over the need to withdraw ANSI standards.
•He defines “Made Up Stuff” as an unkind reference to what is actually “empirical evidence”.

Dieterism: “fear that standards be used by plaintiff’s lawyers for litigation purposes.”

Z-Man suggestions for Tony:
•Get a true subject matter expert as technical director for each technical committee.
•Consider writing standards according to “good practice” not “best practice”.
•Consider calling the IICRCA, “THE Council Of Associations”.

While the old IICRC didn’t always play well with others, the new IICRC under Tony Wheelwright’s and Darrell Paulson’s leadership seems committed to righting wrongs of the past.

Today’s music: “Hail to the chief, with lyrics” YouTube

Z-man signing off