The finding
Asbestos accreditation is the opposite of the mould picture. Under the Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act and the Environmental Protection Agency’s Model Accreditation Plan, accreditation for the five AHERA disciplines is effectively universal: EPA publishes a designated contact for all 53 jurisdictions, and there is no state where an inspector or abatement worker can operate without accredited training. The variable that actually differs is who runs it. Across the 22 states where we read the administering agency, the programme sits in a health department in 7, an environment agency in 7, a labour department in 6 and a professional licensing board in 2. There is no national pattern, and that scatter is the finding.
Headline figures
In this report
- Why asbestos is universal and mould is not
- What an AHERA waiver means
- The 12 waiver states
- Which agency type runs accreditation
- Where a bulk roster exists
- What this means for verifying a credential
- Method and scope boundary
- Reproduce this
- What this does not show
- Questions this report answers
- Sources
Key findings
- Asbestos accreditation is effectively universal across the United States. AHERA and EPA’s Model Accreditation Plan set the training and accreditation requirement for the five disciplines, and EPA publishes a designated contact for all 53 jurisdictions.
- 12 states hold an AHERA waiver: Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah. A waiver transfers administration to the state, it does not remove the requirement.
- Accreditation sits in four different kinds of agency. Of the 22 states where we read the administering body, 7 run it from a health department, 7 from an environment agency, 6 from a labour department and 2 from a professional licensing board.
- The waiver states themselves are split across all three main agency types, so holding a waiver tells you nothing about which kind of agency you will be dealing with.
- Public roster quality varies far more than the rules do. Of the 10 state rosters we reviewed, 4 publish a machine-readable file or API, 3 publish HTML that has to be parsed, and 3 publish no usable bulk list at all.
- Virginia publishes the most useful bulk file of those reviewed: a tab-delimited export that includes an email address for the accreditation holder and is refreshed every five business days.
- Texas runs the asbestos programme from the Department of State Health Services while its mould programme moved to the Department of Licensing and Regulation in 2017, so the two programmes sit in different agencies in the same state.
- Minnesota publishes no current public lookup: the tooling that served it has been decommissioned, which makes it the hardest of the reviewed states to verify from outside.
Why asbestos is universal and mould is not
The two hazards are regulated by completely different mechanisms, and that explains the difference in coverage. Mould regulation is created state by state, from nothing, which is why our state mold licensing map finds that only five states issue an occupational mould licence and most have no programme at all.
Asbestos works from the top down. AHERA, enacted as Title II of the Toxic Substances Control Act, and EPA’s Model Accreditation Plan set out the five accredited disciplines and the training each one requires. A state can take over administration through a waiver, and 12 have, but the floor is federal. EPA publishes a designated asbestos contact for all 53 jurisdictions, which is the clearest single indicator that there is no uncovered state.
What an AHERA waiver means
A waiver is granted under TSCA Title II where EPA is satisfied that a state programme is at least as stringent as the federal one. The practical effect is administrative: the state runs accreditation, approves training providers and handles enforcement in place of EPA’s regional office. Our guide to asbestos abatement covers the training and accreditation that removal work requires.
- A waiver does not remove the requirement. Accredited training in the relevant discipline is still needed to work in a waiver state.
- A waiver does not mean a state programme is unique. The state rules have to meet or exceed the Model Accreditation Plan, so the content is broadly aligned.
- A waiver changes who you ask. In a waiver state the state agency is the authority on accreditation status, reciprocity and provider approval. In a non-waiver state the EPA regional office retains that role alongside whatever the state licenses separately.
- A waiver says nothing about agency type. The 12 waiver states run their programmes out of health, environment and labour agencies alike.
The 12 waiver states
| State | Administering agency | Agency type |
|---|---|---|
| Connecticut | Dept of Public Health | Health |
| Colorado | Dept of Public Health and Environment | Health |
| Illinois | Dept of Public Health | Health |
| Kentucky | Energy and Environment Cabinet | Environment |
| Louisiana | Dept of Environmental Quality | Environment |
| Massachusetts | Dept of Labor Standards | Labour |
| Maine | Dept of Environmental Protection | Environment |
| New Hampshire | Dept of Environmental Services | Environment |
| Oklahoma | Dept of Labor | Labour |
| Rhode Island | Dept of Health | Health |
| Texas | Dept of State Health Services | Health |
| Utah | Dept of Environmental Quality | Environment |
Of the 12 waiver states, 5 run accreditation from an environment agency, 5 from a health department and 2 from a labour department. That is the same three-way split seen nationally, which is further evidence that the waiver and the agency choice are independent decisions.
Which agency type runs accreditation
| State | Administering agency | Agency type |
|---|---|---|
| Georgia | Dept of Natural Resources, Environmental Protection Division | Environment |
| Kentucky | Energy and Environment Cabinet | Environment |
| Louisiana | Dept of Environmental Quality | Environment |
| Maine | Dept of Environmental Protection | Environment |
| New Hampshire | Dept of Environmental Services | Environment |
| Ohio | Environmental Protection Agency | Environment |
| Utah | Dept of Environmental Quality | Environment |
| Colorado | Dept of Public Health and Environment | Health |
| Connecticut | Dept of Public Health | Health |
| Illinois | Dept of Public Health | Health |
| Minnesota | Dept of Health | Health |
| North Carolina | Dept of Health and Human Services | Health |
| Rhode Island | Dept of Health | Health |
| Texas | Dept of State Health Services | Health |
| Massachusetts | Dept of Labor Standards | Labour |
| New Jersey | Dept of Labor and Workforce Development | Labour |
| New York | Dept of Labor | Labour |
| Oklahoma | Dept of Labor | Labour |
| Pennsylvania | Dept of Labor and Industry | Labour |
| Washington | Dept of Labor and Industries | Labour |
| California | Contractors State License Board | Professional licensing |
| Virginia | Dept of Professional and Occupational Regulation | Professional licensing |
This scatter is the editorial point. The same federal requirement is administered by a health department in Texas, an environment agency in Ohio, a labour department in New York and a contractor licensing board in California. Four different kinds of institution, one rule set. Nothing in AHERA directs which department a state should use, and states appear to have assigned it to whichever body already held adjacent work.
The consequence is practical. The agency type determines where the roster lives and which other credentials sit in the same database: a contractor licensing board tends to publish a searchable firm register, a labour department tends to publish individual certification, and an environment agency tends to publish project notifications rather than people.
Where a bulk roster exists
| State | Format | What it contains | Refresh | Machine readable |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Virginia | Tab-delimited bulk file | Licence holders including email address | Every 5 business days | Yes |
| Illinois | Socrata CSV and API | 148 licensed contractors and 1,460 licensed individuals | Dataset-managed | Yes |
| New York | CSV and API | Approximately 35,000 individual asbestos certificates | Daily | Yes |
| California | CSLB spreadsheet | 866 firms holding the asbestos certification | Periodic | Yes |
| Washington | Inline HTML table | 166 certified contractors with phone and email | Page-managed | Partly |
| North Carolina | Single unpaginated HTML page | 3,285 accreditation records | Page-managed | Partly |
| Pennsylvania | Static HTML listings | 299 contractors and 4,990 individuals | Page-managed | Partly |
| Georgia | PDF only | Licensed contractor listing | Document-managed | No |
| Texas | Search interface only | Per-licensee lookup; bulk requires an open-records request | Live search | No |
| Minnesota | None currently | Public lookup tooling decommissioned | Not published | No |
The spread runs from Virginia, which publishes a tab-delimited file including an email address and refreshes it every five business days, to Minnesota, where the public lookup tooling has been decommissioned and there is currently nothing to retrieve. Between those two sit a Georgia programme that publishes only a PDF and a Texas programme that offers per-licensee search with bulk access available through an open-records request. 4 of the 10 reviewed states publish something a program can read directly.
What this means for verifying a credential
Two things follow from the agency scatter. First, there is no single national asbestos register to check, and no stable URL pattern across states, because the programmes do not live in comparable departments. The route to a verification differs by state in a way that is not predictable from the state’s size or its waiver status.
Second, the EPA designated contact list is the most reliable starting point, precisely because it covers all 53 jurisdictions and is maintained centrally. Where a state publishes no roster, that contact is the route to confirming whether an accreditation is current. Our guide to asbestos testing covers what the accredited disciplines actually do on a project.
Method and scope boundary
How we counted. This report covers regulation, accreditation and administrative procedure only. It states no health outcome, no disease, no symptom and no quantified risk of any kind, and it should not be read as doing so. Those questions sit with a physician and with the federal health agencies, not with a registry analysis. What we did: we read AHERA, EPA’s Model Accreditation Plan and EPA’s published list of designated state contacts to establish the federal floor and the waiver list, then read the asbestos programme page for 22 states to record the administering agency and classify it as a health, environment, labour or professional licensing body. We then reviewed the public roster published by 10 state programmes and recorded its format, contents, refresh cadence and whether it is machine readable. Record counts quoted for individual states are the counts published or returned by that state’s roster at the time of retrieval on 23 September 2026. The agency-type counts are not a national census; they cover the states whose programme pages we read. This report is not legal advice.
Reproduce this
Reproduce this
- Endpoint
EPA AHERA designated state contacts; state asbestos programme pages; state roster files- Query
Per state: read the asbestos programme page for the administering agency, then locate the public roster and record format, contents and refresh cadence- Rows retrieved
- 12 waiver states; 22 agency attributions; 10 rosters reviewed
- Retrieved
- 23 September 2026
The federal floor is the easiest part to re-check: EPA’s designated state contact page lists all 53 jurisdictions, and the waiver list is set out in the AHERA programme material under TSCA Title II. The rosters are the fragile part. The Illinois and New York datasets are Socrata-hosted and expose a stable API. Virginia’s bulk export is a tab-delimited file. North Carolina serves all records on a single unpaginated page, so one request retrieves the lot. Georgia publishes a PDF, and Texas requires an open-records request for anything beyond per-licensee search. Expect record counts to drift: New York refreshes daily and Virginia every five business days.
What this does not show
What this does not show
- No health content, by design. This report covers accreditation rules, administering agencies and roster access. It makes no statement about health effects, disease, symptoms or risk, and nothing in it should be read as one.
- The agency-type counts are not a census. They cover the states whose programme pages we read, not all 50. The finding is that four distinct agency types run the same federal requirement, which does not depend on a complete count.
- Accreditation is not the whole of asbestos regulation. Notification requirements, NESHAP work practice standards, OSHA worker protection rules and state licensing of firms are separate instruments and are not classified here.
- Record counts are point-in-time. Several of these rosters refresh daily or weekly, so a count read today will differ from the figure quoted here.
- A roster entry is not a recommendation. An accreditation record states that a credential exists, nothing more. Confirm current status with the issuing agency before relying on it.
- Programme pages move. Agency reorganisations change URLs and sometimes change which department holds the programme. The Texas mould programme moving agencies in 2017 is a worked example of exactly that.
- This is not legal advice. Anyone deciding what a specific project requires should read the applicable federal and state rules and ask the administering agency named for that state.
Most quotable figures
- Asbestos accreditation is effectively universal in the United States because AHERA and EPA’s Model Accreditation Plan set a federal floor, and EPA publishes a designated contact for all 53 jurisdictions.
- The same federal accreditation requirement is administered by four different kinds of agency: health in 7 of the 22 states read, environment in 7, labour in 6 and a professional licensing board in 2.
- 12 states hold an AHERA waiver (CT, CO, IL, KY, LA, MA, ME, NH, OK, RI, TX, UT), which transfers administration to the state without removing the accreditation requirement.
- Of 10 state asbestos rosters reviewed, only 4 publish a machine-readable file or API and 3 publish no usable bulk list at all.
Questions this report answers
Do all states require asbestos accreditation?
Effectively yes. AHERA and EPA’s Model Accreditation Plan set the accreditation requirement for the AHERA disciplines, and EPA publishes a designated asbestos contact for all 53 jurisdictions. This is the structural difference from mould, where most states require nothing.
What is an AHERA waiver?
A waiver granted under TSCA Title II where EPA is satisfied a state programme is at least as stringent as the federal one. The state then administers accreditation, approves training providers and handles enforcement. 12 states hold one: Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah.
Does a waiver mean less regulation?
No. A waiver changes who administers the programme, not whether accreditation is required. The state rules have to meet or exceed the Model Accreditation Plan.
Which agency runs asbestos accreditation in my state?
It depends on the state, and there is no national pattern. Of the 22 states whose programme pages we read, 7 run it from a health department, 7 from an environment agency, 6 from a labour department and 2 from a professional licensing board. The EPA designated contact list is the reliable starting point.
Can I download a list of accredited asbestos contractors?
In some states. Of the 10 reviewed, Virginia, Illinois, New York and California publish a file or API; Washington, North Carolina and Pennsylvania publish HTML that has to be parsed; Georgia publishes a PDF; Texas offers search with bulk access by open-records request; and Minnesota currently publishes no lookup.
Why is the asbestos picture so different from mould?
Because the rules come from different directions. Asbestos accreditation descends from a federal statute that every state has to meet, so coverage is universal and only administration varies. Mould regulation is created state by state with no federal floor, so most states have nothing.
Does this report cover health effects?
No. It covers accreditation rules, administering agencies and roster access only. It makes no statement about health outcomes, disease, symptoms or risk.
How to cite
Remediation Insider. The Asbestos Accreditation Map: AHERA, Waivers and State Routes. https://remediationinsider.com/asbestos-accreditation-map/ (retrieved 2 October 2026).
Data and tables in this report are released under CC BY 4.0. Attribution: Remediation Insider.
Sources
- Asbestos Hazard Emergency Response Act, enacted as Title II of the Toxic Substances Control Act, and EPA’s Asbestos Model Accreditation Plan, 40 CFR part 763 subpart E appendix C.
- US Environmental Protection Agency, designated state asbestos contacts, covering all 53 jurisdictions. Waiver status under TSCA Title II section 206(d) for Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Texas and Utah.
- State asbestos programme pages for the 22 states listed in the agency table, read for the administering agency and its departmental type, retrieved 23 September 2026.
- Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation, tab-delimited licensee export refreshed every five business days.
- Illinois Department of Public Health asbestos datasets published on the state open data portal: 148 licensed contractors and 1,460 licensed individuals.
- New York State Department of Labor asbestos certificate dataset, approximately 35,000 individual certificates, refreshed daily.
- California Contractors State License Board asbestos certification listing, 866 firms.
- Washington State Department of Labor and Industries certified asbestos contractor listing, 166 contractors. North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services accreditation listing, 3,285 records. Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry asbestos listings, 299 contractors and 4,990 individuals.
- Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division asbestos listing, published as PDF. Texas Department of State Health Services asbestos licence search. Minnesota Department of Health, public lookup tooling decommissioned.
- No survey, interview or site visit was conducted for this report. Every classification is read from a federal rule, a state programme page or a published roster.