The MethSolutions Standard Screening Assessment or SSA is used to establish habitability of a property as per Standard NZS8510 i.e.: whether a contaminated property can be tenanted.
The standard NZS8510 was released in June 2017 and details acceptable post decontamination levels of methamphetamine residue in property.
The levels referenced in the standard apply to any property or buildings where people may be present including, but not limited to dwellings, sheds, garages, vehicles, boats, caravans, mobile homes, work places, hotels, motels and storage facilities.
As with all methods of sampling, the recommended approach when taking discrete area by area samples, is to sample all areas in a property. This reduces the likelihood of methamphetamine contamination remaining undetected in any one area.
Our Certified Sampler uses an SSA test kit which contains five individual methanol dampened cotton gauze squares to swab five individual areas.
The five individual swabs are composited in one tube for analysis at the lab as one sample to minimise analysis costs while still establishing habitability.
As each sample is taken following the NIOSH9111 method, the level in any one of the individual swabs is unlikely to exceed to total of the SSA composite i.e.: if results are or less than 1.5ug/100cm2 it is likely the levels of meth residue in the property comply with the Standard NZS8510.
The lower the level of methamphetamine is in each sample, the more likely it is, the property complies with NZS8510.
A one bedroom or small two-bedroom property can be sampled with one SSA kit (5 swabs) however larger properties will require multiple SSA kits.
If the result of any of the SSA samples, exceeds 1.5 micrograms, further sampling would be required in those areas in the form of discrete area by area sampling with individual lab analysis to facilitate professional decontamination.