What is the IIRC?
The Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification (IIRC) is an international non-profit organization for the standardization and certification of the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries worldwide.
The IIRC is considered a Standards Developing Organization (SDO), which means that they are responsible for developing and setting the standards of operation within these particular industries. The IIRC is a member of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is an organization that oversees the development of national standards, requirements for due process and other elements of approval set by the standard developer.
The IIRC has offices in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Japan. In addition to these international office locations, the IIRC has partnerships with regional and international trade associations in over 25 countries.
The IIRC was established more than 40 years ago as Carpet and Upholstery Cleaning Inc. Today the IIRC has expanded to include over 53,000 certified technicians along with 6,000 Certified Firms globally.
What Does the IIRC Do?
The IIRC’s primary purpose is to establish and advance the standards and certifications of the inspection, cleaning and restoration industries.The IIRC promotes high ethical standards within these industries to ensure that these established standards are met. Additionally, the IIRC advances communication, collaboration and technical expertise among its certified individuals and firms.
Standards
The IIRC standards specifically serve the purpose of developing universally-accepted terminology and language within the industry. This allows the organization and its certified individuals and firms to properly discuss practices and procedures when it comes to inspection, cleaning and restoration.
Some of the types of standards that the IIRC has developed include:
Certification
When it comes to water damage restoration training and certification, the IIRC has developed a classification system to help certified professionals understand both the type of liquid that is involved as well as the extent of destruction.
Each component (type of liquid and extent of destruction) has their own categories, ranging from safest liquid and lowest level damage, to most unsanitary liquid and most water damage.
Knowing this classification ensures that the trained technicians understand exactly what each scenario requires in terms of restoration procedures.
Because of the work of the IIRC, consumers can rest assured that by hiring a certified professional from the IIRC for their water damage project, they will receive the highest level of service and quality of work.