The American IAQ Council has approved a new certification exam for its Council-certified Indoor Air Quality Manager (CIAQM) program. The IAQ Council said its CIAQM is the only independently accredited certification in the field of IAQ management. The program is designed for building, property, and facilities managers and others involved in policy making related to IAQ.
The 100-question exam meets certification-board specifications for content coverage and item difficulty and is based entirely on industry reference texts. Exam items were submitted by a team of industry experts and professional item writers. The CIAQM certification board then validated each item and authorized the construction of the exam from the best items submitted.
The final draft exam was approved by a unanimous vote of the certification board. “The CIAQM exam illustrates a trend in our industry away from ‘curriculum’ exams, which are based on training course content,” said Charlie Wiles, IAQ Council executive director. “Because they are based on respected reference texts, IAQ Council exams represent broad industry knowledge - a much more reliable basis for professional certification.”
Wiles stressed that no training providers were involved at any point in the exam development process. “The CIAQM examination is an independent instrument,” he said. “This is part of the reason the IAQ Council’s CIAQM is the most credible designation in the field of indoor air quality management.”
The new examination is available to all CIAQM candidates via the IAQ Council’s network of secure electronic testing centers.
For more information about the IAQ Council and its programs, visit www.iaqcouncil.org.
Publication date:04/28/2008
