Lead renovation, repair, and painting rule (EPA)

EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule in a nutshell. EPA’s Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting (RRP) rule, regulated at 40 CFR 745 Subpart E, requires that firms performing renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in pre-1978 homes and child-occupied facilities be certified by the agency and use certified renovators who are trained by EPA-approved training providers to follow lead-safe work practices. Individuals can become certified renovators by taking an eight-hour training course from an EPA-approved training provider.

Lead health effects. According to EPA, lead can cause a wide range of adverse health effects, especially in children. Lead has been shown to cause behavior problems and learning disabilities, lowered IQ, brain damage and nervous system damage, slowed growth, hearing problems, reproductive issues, high blood pressure, memory and concentration problems, and muscle and joint pain. At very high doses, lead can even cause seizures or death.

Lead poisoning is a particular concern for children six years of age or younger because young children tend to put everything in their mouths. They can more easily be exposed to lead-based paint dust that falls to the floor or collects on windowsills.

Lead exposure reduction. Congress authorized the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act in 1992, creating a comprehensive federal strategy for reducing lead paint hazard exposure. The Act allowed EPA to amend the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to establish regulations applying to lead-based paint activities.

The Lead RRP is designed to protect children and adults from the harmful effects of ingesting or breathing lead dust and chips, which can be disturbed by renovation activities.

Who is covered? The rule says that firms preforming renovation, repair, and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in “target housing” and child-occupied facilities must be certified by EPA. Individual workers in the firms must be trained by EPA-approved training providers to follow lead-safe work practices. Child-occupied facilities are defined as buildings, or portions of buildings, that were built before 1978 (when lead-based paint was banned), and are visited regularly by a child who is six-years-old or younger, on at least two different days within any week. Examples of these facilities include pre-1978 homes, day-care centers, preschools, and kindergarten classrooms.

Anyone doing work on their own home is not covered by the rule; it only applies to work-for-hire. However, everyone will benefit from using lead-safe work practices. Further, no one is required to remove the lead-based paint in their homes or businesses. The rule simply states that contractors must meet specific work practices if they do work that would disturb surfaces painted with lead-based paint.

The Lead RRP rule only applies to pre-1978 residential buildings and other target child-occupied facilities. It does not apply to commercial or public buildings that are not considered to be child-occupied. (However, in 2011, EPA indicated it was considering a rulemaking to address renovations in commercial and public buildings to the extent those renovations create lead-based hazards.)

Definition of “renovation.” The lead-based paint regulations cover activities that modify an existing structure and that result in the disturbance of painted surfaces. All types of repair, remodeling, maintenance, modernization, and weatherization projects are covered, including projects performed as part of another federal, state, or local program, if the projects meet the definition of “renovation.” The term renovation includes (but is not limited to):

• Removing, modifying or repairing painted surfaces or painted components. Examples include modifying painted doors, surface restoration, window repair, and surface preparation activity like sanding and scraping that may generate paint dust.
• Removing building components such as walls, ceilings, plumbing, or windows.
• Weatherization projects such as cutting holes in painted surfaces to install blown-in insulation or to gain access to attics, or planing thresholds to install weather-stripping.
• Interim controls that disturb painted surfaces.

Work-practice standards. Contractors performing renovation activities such as sanding, cutting, and demolition must use lead-safe work practices and contain the work area, minimize dust, and clean up thoroughly, as outlined in 40 CFR 745.85.

Firms must also post signs clearly defining the work area and warning occupants and others to remain outside of the work area. Occupants should be able to read the signs in their own language, to the extent practicable. They must be posted before beginning work and left up until the work is completed.

In addition, before beginning the work, the firm must isolate the work area using plastic sheeting or other impermeable material so that no dust or debris escapes while work is being done and ensure that the material used to contain the area is not torn or moved. Of course, the containment materials can’t block exits or other means of egress for workers.

Other required work practices include, but are not limited to:

• Indoor work: Firms must remove all objects from the work area or cover everything with plastic sheeting and tape down all seams and edges and ensure that dust cannot migrate from the work area into other indoor areas.
• Outdoor work: Firms must cover the ground with plastic sheeting extending 10 feet beyond the perimeter of surfaces undergoing renovation or a sufficient distance to collect falling paint debris and ensure that dust from the outdoor project cannot blow into the building.
• Prohibited or restricted work: Firms may not use open-flame burning or torching of painted surfaces or use sanders, grinders, blasters, or other equipment on painted surfaces unless the machines have shrouds or containment systems and are equipped with HEPA vacuum attachments to collect dust and debris at the point of generation. There should be no visible dust outside the containment system.
• Waste: Waste from the renovation work must be contained to prevent releases of dust and debris before it can be removed from the site and waste must be collected at the end of each work day and at the end of the project and stored in a way that prevents the escape of dust and debris.
• Clean-up: The firm must collect all paint chips and debris and seal it all in a heavy-duty bag, remove any protective sheeting and mist it before folding, and clean all objects and surfaces in the work area and within two feet of the work area, cleaning from higher to lower.
• Post-renovation cleaning verification: Once the work is complete, a certified renovator must perform a visual inspection to determine whether dust, debris, or residue is still present. If dust or debris is found, it must be removed by re-cleaning.
• Dust clearance testing: The firm must re-clean the work area until all dust sample results are within the clearance standards at 745.227(e)(8) or any other standard that applies.
• Recordkeeping and reporting requirements: The recordkeeping and reporting requirements at 745.86 tells firms performing renovations that they must keep and, if requested, make available to EPA all records showing they’ve been compliant with the Lead RRP for a period of three years following the renovation. States and localities may have longer retention periods. When the final invoice for the renovation is delivered, or within 30 days of the completion of the renovation, the renovation firm must provide information showing compliance with the regulation to:
  • The building owner and, if different,
  • An adult occupant of the residential dwelling or child-occupied facility.

Posting and information distribution requirement. Renovation firms must post:

• Signs clearly defining the work area;
• Information, or instructions on how occupants can obtain a copy of the information, in common areas of multi-unit target housing, or in areas where it is likely to be seen by the occupants of all the affected units; and
• Dust sampling reports, or information on how to obtain copies of the report, in common areas of target housing or is areas where they are most likely to be seen by the occupants of all the affected units.

The regulations at 745.84 say that no more than 60 days before beginning any renovation in a residential dwelling unit of target housing, the firm must provide the owner of the unit with the mandatory EPA lead pamphlet, “Renovate Right: Important Lead Hazard Information for Families, Child Care Providers and Schools.” They must get a written acknowledgement that the owner has received the pamphlet, or certify in wiring the pamphlet has been delivered to the dwelling and that the firm performing the renovation was unable to obtain a written acknowledgement from an adult occupant.

Test kits. The federal standard for lead-based paint in target housing and child-occupied facilities is lead content in paint that equals or exceeds a level of 1.0 million per square centimeter (mg/cm²) or 0.5 percent by weight.

EPA says that lead-based paint is assumed to be present at renovations covered by Subpart E; therefore, firms will need to do testing. Recognized test kits are listed at www.epa.gov/lead/testkit.html.

The RRP rule lists criteria for recognizing test kits that detect lead in paint. Initially, a lead test kit could be EPA-recognized if it met the negative response criterion of no more than five percent false negatives, with 95 percent confidence for paint containing lead at or above the regulated level. EPA will continue to recognize kits that meet the negative response criterion until such time as a test kit meets both the negative response and positive response criteria outlined in the Lead RRP.

Any newly recognized test kit must meet both the negative and positive response criteria of no more than five percent false negatives and no more than ten percent false positives, each with 95 percent confidence, as related to the regulated level of lead in paint. No test kit has yet been developed to meet these criteria.

Firm certification. The regulation requires renovation firms to be certified. Individual workers must be trained by certified renovation contractors in lead-safe work practices.

Under the regulations, a firm is a business made up of more than one person that does work for hire. Firms that perform renovations for compensation must apply to EPA and obtain certification to perform the renovations or dust sampling. Firms must complete the “Application for Firms,” have an authorized agent of the firm sign it, and pay a fee. Then firms must be re-certified every five years and must complete an amendment of certification if a change occurs to information included in the firm’s most recent application.

In addition, firms must ensure that:

• All individuals performing renovation activities for the firm are certified renovators or have been trained by a certified renovator;
• A certified renovator is assigned to each renovation performed by the firm; and
• It follows the pre-renovation education requirements and recordkeeping requirements.

Renovator and dust sampling technician certification and other requirements. In order to be a certified renovator or a certified dust sampling technician, a person must successfully complete the appropriate course accredited by EPA or a state or tribal program that is authorized under Subpart Q of Part 745.

Certified renovators and dust sampling technicians must complete a refresher course accredited by EPA of state or tribal program every five years. If the individual does not complete a refresher course within that time, he or she must re-take the initial course to become certified again.

At 745.91, EPA says it may suspend, revoke, or modify an individual certification if the individual fails to comply with the federal lead-based paint statutes or regulations.

If you are a renovator, you must:

• Provide a copy of your EPA or state lead training certificate to your client;
• Tell your client what lead-safe methods you will use to perform the job;
• Follow the required lead-safe work practices and provide training to workers on the correct work practices;
• Keep records to demonstrate that you and your workers have been trained in lead-safe work practices and that you follow lead-safe work practices on the job.
• Ask your client to share the results of any previously conducted lead tests;
• Provide your client with references from at least three recent jobs involving homes built before 1978;
• Be physically present at the work site when the required signs are posted, when the work area containment is being established, and while the work area is being cleaned;
• Be available, whether on-site, or by telephone, at all times that renovations are being done; and
• Use an EPA-accepted test kit to determine whether components to be affected by the renovation contain lead-based paint, when requested by the contracted party.

Dust sampling technicians must:

• Collect dust samples in accordance with the regulations;
• Send the collected sampled to an EPA-recognized laboratory; and
• Compare the results to listed clearance levels.

Technicians must have at the worksite copies of their initial course completion certificate and their most recent refresher course completion certificate.

Dates. The requirement to distribute the “Renovate Right” pamphlet went into effect December 22, 2008.

• The work practices provisions and the requirement for individuals to be trained by a certified renovator went into effect April 22, 2010.
• Effective April 22, 2010, no firm may perform, offer, or claim to perform renovations without certification from EPA in target housing or child-occupied facilities.

Training providers. Training providers who are applying for accreditation must pay a fee and complete an application, in accordance with 745.238.

Authorized state requirements. Contractors and training providers working in certain states must contact the state to find out more about its training and certification requirements. That’s because these states are authorized to administer their own RRP programs in lieu of the federal program. For more information, see the EPA’s page on RPR certification.