The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) April 22 will begin requiring all contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 to be certified and follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
EPA’s Lead-Safe Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) program was established in April 2008 and will affect renovation contractors, maintenance workers in multi-family housing, and painters and other specialty trades that disturb an area of six or more feet containing lead paint. Under the program, both firms and individual employees will need to be certified by April 22 to work on projects that contain lead paint.
The original
rule implementing the RRP program included an opt-out provision that exempted contractors from the rule if the owner of the building or home certified that no child under the age of six or pregnant women reside in the home and it is not a child-occupied facility, however EPA published a proposed change to the program in October 2009 that would eliminate the opt-out provision. The rule defines child-occupied facilities as residential, public or commercial buildings where children under age six are present on a regular basis.
During the comment period, ABC filed comments supporting the position of the National Association of Home Builders and the Air Conditioning Contractors of America to keep the opt-out provision and asking for a six-month delay of the rule, noting that there are not enough accredited trainers to meet the deadline. EPA has not said whether it will include the opt-out provision when the program goes into affect in April.
EPA began processing applications for lead-safe certification in October. Firms can become certified by completing an application and sending in a fee payment. Applications may take up to 90 days to be approved by EPA. Individual renovation contractors must complete and EPA-accredited training course in order to receive certification. Certified lead abatement contractors with previous training may qualify for a shortened “refresher” course. For a list of training sessions, visit
http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/trainingproviders.htm.
In addition, ABC members or chapters that would like to become accredited trainers under the RRP program can click
here for more information.
For more information about EPA’s rules and lead-safe work practices, visit
www.epa.gov/lead, or click
here for a small business compliance guide.