Over the last year, the IICRC has taken a critical look at the organization and examined what needed to be changed, what needed to stay and how best to move forward. We defined a mission statement and a vision, we rebranded and we have now come to a place of action. With a clear plan in place, the board of directors is now focused on refinement and implementation.

At the July board of directors and executive committee meetings, the focus was on activation, which included one of the biggest changes the organization has seen in its 40 years – the International Trade Association (ITA). As mentioned in the past, this has been a five-year mission to develop the best strategically-aligned ITA involving many of our related industries. This board of directors is committed to aligning international association partnerships. The ITA will help people and companies work together to pursue common goals and interests in the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries.  With the increased regulatory environment, the volunteer government affairs committee will help increase member awareness of both state and federal legislative activity. It will also facilitate relationships that continue to improve our industry’s professionalism and quality service. The association will have various membership categories and will offer a number of programs and services, which the IICRC does not offer. As a benefit to current IICRC Certified Firms, each will be enrolled as members of the new ITA. The IICRC as you know it will still exist – with the IICRC as a certification and standards body and the ITA as a membership benefits program on an international scale.

The IICRC customer will continue to be the industry professional for which the organization provides up-to-date education, certification and standards. To better serve our customers, we will aim to serve and partner with like-minded organizations in our own industries, as well as close category industries, to continue expanding the breadth and knowledge of the IICRC. The organization is considering how to expand and enhance our memorandum of understanding (MOU) relationships, such as our most recent MOU’s between the IICRC and the Restoration Industry Association (RIA), ISSA, International Air Quality Association (IAQA), American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) and National Wood Flooring Association (NWFA). With an MOU, the senior leadership of each organization will keep the other aware of applicable functions and activities of shared interest to increase cooperation and coordination between each organization. Additionally, even without a formal MOU process, industry-focused meetings like those the IICRC recently led with carpet industry partners – Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI), Mohawk Flooring, Shaw Industries, Tandus Flooring and Professional Testing Laboratories (PTL) – benefit everyone involved. These meetings and others provide leadership an opportunity to promote best practices through advocacy, standards and professional qualifications.

As each of these action items continues to take place, we’re working to increase our communication channels to ensure that all important stakeholders are kept up-to-date on our progress.

Our marketing committee and administrative teams are working diligently to improve the tools necessary to communicate better with our stakeholders in the North American and international markets. As part of the strategy to establish more communication channels, the IICRC is researching the feasibility of creating a technical journal and is also seeking out other media and publication opportunities to feature in-depth technical articles in the areas of hard-surface cleaning, soft-surface cleaning, restoration and inspection. This journal would keep registrants informed of the latest innovations and would reinforce the position of the IICRC as the one of the premier technical and procedural education providers in the industry.

Moving forward, you’ll continue to hear about continuous process improvement as the IICRC activates its strategic growth plans, which includes excellence and compliance in third party accreditation. We appreciate your feedback on our progress and look forward to activating on the right things for our registrants and members.