by Jim Rosenthal, CAFS, TEX-AIR Filters/Air Relief Technologies
One of the best benefits of the National Air Filtration Association is the Clean Air Award Program. This is an excellent way for you to honor your customers and at the same time cement your relationship with them.
This is not a competition. We want participation and have made submitting an application an easy process. Just follow the step-by-step procedures and you should not have any trouble qualifying your customer.
Who is eligible? All end users can qualify. Generally, any customer that has been following your recommendations has a good chance of qualifying. Most applications in the past have been for single buildings. However, we have had applications for school districts, cities, universities and other large institutions.
Filling out the form – Side one is self-explanatory. Fill in your name and company information. Fill in the company contact information at the facility you are nominating. Make sure you indicate how you are paying for the nomination and submit payment when you send in the application.
Qualification for the Award is based on the point system on page 2 of the application. The first question “MERV number of filters” is the highest number used in the facility. For example, if you have recommended MERV 8 pre-filters and MERV 14 final filters, you would enter 14 points for this question.
For the other questions if the facility is following the procedure, you enter the full number of points. For example, if the facility is using pressure gauges, you would enter 10 points.
To qualify for the Clean Air Award the nominee must have a total of at least 52 points.
Provide Supporting Documentation – This is critical. In order to receive the points, you must provide supporting documentation. Each point category has a method for substantiation. For example, for the gasket points, you must provide a picture of the installed gaskets. For the “filter change record” points, you must submit a copy of the filter change records. (By the way, on this category, all you need to submit is a representative sample, it is not necessary to submit ALL of the filter change records.)
Provide a Narrative Description – On a separate sheet of paper you need to provide a narrative description of the filter installation. This does not have to be a writing masterpiece, but it needs to explain something about the facility, the filter recommendations you have made and any other details about the work that you have done with the facility and its staff (for example, training of technicians). There is an additional sheet supplied with the nomination package that will help you with this narrative. It goes through the pertinent points and leaves room for your description. The purpose of this narrative is two-fold: first, it gives the reviewers a better understanding of the facility and its use of filtration to provide clean air and secondly, from time to time we send out publicity on Clean Air Award winners and the narrative gives the additional detail necessary to make this effective.
Sign and Date the Application
Send in the Application – The Clean Air Award application can either be mailed to the NAFA office or it can be emailed to nafa@nafahq.org. If pictures are sent digitally, they need to be in either .jpg or .pdf format.
The application is then reviewed by the NAFA office staff for completeness. If additional information is required, NAFA office staff will contact you. The completed applications are then sent to the members of the NAFA Clean Air Award Committee for review and approval. You will be notified after this review.
All in all, it is a very simple, painless process. Properly organized, you should be able to complete the application in an afternoon. That amount of time and $100 are a small price to pay for a very satisfied customer.
Keep in mind – Clean Air Award applications must be received no later than August 1 of each year.