In January of 2002,the National Environmental Balancing Bureau(NEBB) kicked off its program for qualifying Testing, Adjusting, and Balancing (TAB) Technicians. Since 1971, it has been the intent and purpose of NEBB to certify firms and qualify persons for the purpose of performing necessary tests and inspections of building environmental systems.

The TAB program qualifies supervisory personnel who possess both management and field expertise in this area. The certification program for technicians has been established as a natural progression of NEBB ' s original purpose. This program is intended to enhance NEBB' s stature with owners and designers, while promoting the professional integrity of our certified firms.

The purpose of the qualification program is to establish a uniform and systematic set of testing requirements for qualified technicians. The hvac industry is producing environmental systems of ever increasing sophistication and complexity. Today's testing and balancing technicians must evolve with the industry to provide the necessary services. The NEBB Qualified TAB Technician must be able to competently measure and record the necessary data, and the technician must also understand how to perform the work properly on a wide variety of complex systems. The TAB technician must be knowledgeable of the fundamentals of environmental systems operation and possess the skills to identify problems. A TAB Technician must also use appropriate instrumentation and current National Environmental Balancing Bureau procedural standards.

NEBB exists to help architects, engineers, building owners, and contractors produce great buildings with hvac systems that perform in ways they have been visualized and designed. More information on NEBB can be found at www .nebb.org.