Environmental Scientist – Indoor Air Quality Expert, Industrial Hygienist, Mold Investigator, and Consultant
Don Paxton
Environmental Scientist,
CIEC, CETC
Is an American Council for Accredited Certification (ACAC) – Certified Indoor Environmental Consultant (CIEC) and Certified Environmental Thermography Consultant (CETC). Has 20+ years of environmental sampling and consulting experience with 14+ years as an Indoor environmental professional (IEP) beginning in 2003 as a Certified Indoor Environmentalist (CIE), and then as a CIEC beginning in 2007.
- Is a former consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
- Performed anthrax investigations in the U.S. senate office buildings for US EPA Response.
- Has performed Superfund hazardous waste site investigations and emergency responses.
- Has performed 600+ studies for mold, indoor air quality (IAQ), and industrial hygiene (IH).
- Has served as an expert witness on the stand and in depositions for mold and chemical project litigation cases, and provided litigation support to several Chicago law firm’s clientele.
Don’s Curriculum Vitae is available upon request for litigation purposes by telephone contact.
My Personal Work Ethic:
I believe in using a scientific approach to all projects and not biasing observations or data so that our reports are legally defensible. I treat each project as if I was paying for it myself and I don’t feel it is ethical to upsell clients into getting samples they don’t need and on occasion have talked them out of unnecessary samples. I know that when people hire our company it is because they trust us and rely on our judgment and expertise to solve their indoor air quality problems. Very often clients do not really understand mold, bacteria, chemicals, gases, etc. so they look to us to explain what is going on and not take advantage of their sometimes vulnerable situation. Even though nowadays it seems to go against the grain and it is viewed as anti-success or profit, I do what I believe to be right and honest for each of my clients. So in other words, I get a good night’s sleep every night.
Community Involvement:
Since 2009 I have participated as a host for Bartlett High School’s Academy of Science, Engineering, & High Technology Job Shadowing Program for students. In this program students are given the opportunity to spend half a day with me to learn about IAQ, microbial investigations, and other environmental work I do. In 2011 the student was onsite for a DNA-based microbial investigation and IR thermal imaging survey since we were able to coordinate it with our busy schedules and a very considerate client. I enjoy sharing the important work that I do and hope it will inspire future scientists to want to be in a field that helps people solve problems the medical community doesn’t have the expertise or capabilities to do.
Published Work:
The image below is a link to an article I wrote for Chicagoland Buildings & Environments Spring 2008 issue “How to Respond After a Water Release Occurs”. The article was written as a guide for building owners and property managers for water releases in high-rise multi-unit buildings. The link will take you to scanned pages from the magazine.
