FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

We know, its a mouthful.

The Nassau County Environmental Hazard Remediation PROVIDER License is for environmental contractor businesses seeking to provide remediation services to Nassau County consumers; however.....at least one member of the "provider applicant" company, must have the Nassau County Environmental Hazard Remediation TECHNICIAN License (this is usually the business owner or business representative that would actually be in the field doing the work)

If you perform (or plan to perform) the "remediation of environmental hazards" in Nassau County, NY...then Yes!

(See how Nassau County defines an Environmental Hazard below)

Nassau County defines an “Environmental Hazard”  as any condition that constitutes in an indoor air quality violation caused by fire, flood, storm, chemical spills, dust, sewage, mold, pathogens or other biological contaminants, but is not caused by asbestos or lead (asbestos and/or lead would be incidental to the hazard).

Nassau County defines Remediation as the removal, cleaning, sanitizing, treatment or other preventative action to eliminate all environmental hazards – including lead or asbestos - that is present at the environmental hazard site.

Nassau County defines an “Environmental Contractor” as any person or firm that is contracted to inspect a suspected environmental hazard, or any person or firm that is contracted to implement any measure that results in the remediation of an environmental hazard.

And that is the million dollar question for mostly everyone.....

The Nassau County Local Law 13-2014 (A Local Law to Amend the Nassau County Administrative Code in Relations to Licensing Environmental Hazard Remediation Providers) became effective on September 25, 2014; however, up until January 1, 2020, Nassau County sometimes allowed an applicant to substitute experience in place of the training requirements.

This is no longer allowable and every person applying for a provider or technician license must have the required training.

So Nassau County requires ten (yes 10) different training courses in order to get both your provider (business) and technician (individual) licenses; however, since you also need to provide evidence that your business holds certain certifications, CNS recommends a slight modification:

In-Person Courses at CNS

OSHA HAZWOPER

If you've never held the OSHA HAZWOPER Certification (or if you let yours expire), you need to take an OSHA 40-Hour HAZWOPER Initial.  If you have the certification and just need to keep it current, all you need is an OSHA 8-Hour HAZWOPER Refresher.

OSHA 10-Hour Outreach (General Industry or Construction)

If you've done work in the boroughs, you probably already have this one; or you may even have the 30-Hour Outreach card.  Either one is acceptable to Nassau County.

Mold Remediation Contractor

If you've been doing Mold Remediation in New York State, you've probablyalready taken this course to get your NYSDOL Mold Licenses.  If you haven't, this 3-day course is not only required to obtain your Nassau County License, but is also required to get your individual NYSDOL Mold Remediation license, as well as your company's NYSDOL Mold Remediation Contractor license.

Lead Abatement Worker

This 2-day Initial course is required in the event that lead is encountered, and is "incidental" to the environmental hazard being remediated.  After taking this class, you will apply to the USEPA for your individual Lead Abatement Worker License (no additional third-party exam needed!), and you will also need to apply for your company's USEPA Lead Activities License.  Both are done entirely online!

Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor

And here is where CNS's modification comes in.  While Nassau County only requires you to have the NYS Asbestos Handler Certification, you can not get your company licensed as an Asbestos Abatement firm (which Nassau requires) unless you have a NYS licensed Asbestos Supervisor! So CNS recommends taking the 5-day Asbestos Contractor/Supervisor Initial (it's only 1 day longer than the Handler course) to ensure you give Nassau County everything they need! After completing your course, you will submit your individual NYS Asbestos Supervisor application and NYS Asbestos Company application to the NYSDOL.

Online Courses at CNS

All of our online courses are presented in a Live, Interactive format with one of our Instructors, and are over in the blink of an eye!

• PCB Awareness.....4 Hours

• Infection Control Risk Assessment (ICRA) Awareness.....4 Hours

• Bloodborne Pathogens (BBP) Awareness.....4 Hours

Other Courses required by Nassau County

Stay tuned....CNS is working on bringing this to you in-house!

• 20 Hour Water Damage Restoration Course (or IICRC WRT Certification)

• 16 Hour Fire Damage Restoration Course (or IICRC FSRT Certification)

Well this is a catch-22.

Nassau County only requires that the owner (or an owner) of the company applying for the Provider license also obtain the Technician license, and that person is allowed to supervise up to 10 unlicensed employees at a time, as long as they execute their remediation tasks under the direct supervision of the licensed Environmental Hazard Remediation Technician.

With that being said, if your company is performing Mold Remediation, Asbestos Abatement or Lead Abatement - your workers MUST be licensed! That means Mold Workers must be licensed as NYSDOL Mold Abatement Workers; Asbestos Workers must be licensed as NYSDOL Asbestos Handlers; and Lead Workers must be licensed as USEPA Lead Abatement Workers.

We know it’s a lot to send your entire staff out of the office for training, but if your employees will be performing remediation or abatement tasks – CNS strongly recommends they receive formal training and comply with the applicable NYS and/or Federal laws.