The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IICRC) recently led a series of meetings with carpet industry partners including the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), Mohawk Flooring, Shaw Industries, Tandus Flooring and Professional Testing Laboratories (PTL). The meetings in Dalton, Ga., on April 9-10 were organized by IICRC board member John Downey and IICRC S800 chair Bill Doan.

The meetings focused on the IICRC standards development process, especially the BSR-IICRC S600 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Installation and the BSR-IICRC S800 Standard and Reference Guide for Professional Carpet Inspection, as well as the CRI’s Seal of Approval (SOA) program.

The meetings were organized after IICRC chairman, Darrell Paulson, met with carpet industry representatives at Surfaces in January. In follow-up discussions, Paulson and Downey decided that a meeting in Dalton would be a good opportunity to build upon and maintain the strong relationship between the IICRC and the carpet industry.

“Both the IICRC and the carpet industry, including CRI, have gone through a lot of changes the past year or two,” Downey said. “We’ve made a lot of changes to improve the IICRC, but haven’t always done a good job of communicating why the changes were made or how they are beneficial not only to us but to our partners. We decided that now would be a great time to meet in Dalton to get all questions answered and to chart a positive course forward. I think these meetings accomplished that goal.”

The first day of meetings focused on the S600 and S800 standards. IICRC Standards Director Mili Washington and editor Jeff Bishop outlined the IICRC’s plan to complete the BSR-IICRC S600 and the BSR-IICRC S800 in a timely manner and on budget. Both standards are expected to be available for public review by the end of the year. The first day concluded with a tour of PTL’s testing facilities used for the SOA program, followed by a discussion of cleaning industry concerns about the program.

On the second day participants gathered at CRI headquarters. IICRC President Patrick Winters gave a presentation that explained the internal assessment and resulting structural changes the IICRC has made in order to better serve the cleaning, restoration and inspection industries. Following, Washington explained the IICRC’s ANSI-accredited standards-development process. Finally, Downey led a discussion exploring how the CRI and the IICRC might work together to improve the SOA program.

After the meeting ended, Dave Foster of TalkFloor TV interviewed CRI President Werner Braun, Lew Migliore of LGM & Associates, and the IICRC’s Winters and Washington about the meetings. The interview was broadcast in three segments and can be found atwww.talkfloor.com.

For additional information about the IICRC and its industry involvement, visitwww.iicrc.org.