Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP)
If you or your contractor are disturbing more than 6 square feet, you should make sure that you comply with the new EPA Rules. Common renovation activities like sanding, cutting, and demolition can create hazardous lead dust and chips by disturbing lead-based paint, which can be harmful to adults and children.
To protect against this risk, on April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead safe practices and other actions aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Under the rule, beginning in April 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.
Information for Property Owners of Rental Housing, Child-Occupied Facilities
Property owners who renovate, repair, or prepare surfaces for painting in pre-1978 rental housing or space rented by child-care facilities must, before beginning work, provide tenants with a copy of EPA's lead hazard information pamphlet Renovate Right: Important Lead Hazard Information for Families, Child Care Providers, Schools. Owners of these rental properties must document compliance with this requirement.
After April 22, 2010, property owners who perform these projects in pre-1978 rental housing or space rented by child-care facilities must be certified and follow the lead-safe work practices required by EPA's Renovation, Repair and Remodeling rule. To become certified, property owners must submit an application and fee payment to EPA.
Property owners who perform renovation, repairs, and painting jobs in rental property should also:
- Take training to learn how to perform lead-safe work practices
- Learn the lead laws that apply to you regarding certification and lead-safe work practices beginning in April 2010
- Keep records to demonstrate that you and your workers have been trained in lead-safe work practices and that you followed lead-safe work practices on the job.
Information for Homeowners Working at Home
If you are a homeowner performing renovation, repair, or painting work in your own home, EPA's RRP rule DOES NOT cover your project. However, if you are living in a pre-1978 home and planning to do painting or repairs, you may want to read EPA's Renovate Right lead hazard information pamphlet. You may also want to call the National Lead Information Center at 1-800-424-LEAD (5323) and ask for more information on how to work safely in a home with lead-based paint.
Information for Tenants and Families of Children under Age 6 in Child Care Facilities and Schools
Under the rule, child-occupied facilities are defined as residential, public or commercial buildings where children under age six are present on a regular basis. The requirements apply to renovation, repair or painting activities. The rule does not apply to minor maintenance or repair activities where less than six (6) square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed in a room or where less then twenty (20) square feet of lead-based paint is disturbed on the exterior. Note that Window replacement is not minor maintenance or repair.
As a tenant or a parent or guardian of children in a child care facility or school, you should know your rights when a renovation job is performed in your home, or in the child care facility or school that your child attends.
- Before starting a renovation in residential buildings built before 1978, the contractor or property owner is required to have tenants sign a pre-renovation disclosure form which indicates that the tenant received the Renovate Right lead hazard information pamphlet.
- The contractor must also make renovation information available to the parents or guardians of children under age six that attend child care facilities and schools, and to provide to owners and administrators of pre-1978 child care facilities and schools to be renovated a copy of EPA's Renovate Right lead hazard information pamphlet.
Information for Contractors
Contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint must provide to owners and occupants of child care facilities and to parents and guardians of children under age six that attend child care facilities built prior to 1978 the Renovate Right lead hazard information pamphlet. The contractors must ensure that the pamphlet is provided before beginning work must document compliance with this requirement. The rule will affect paid renovators who work in pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities, including:
- Renovation contractors
- Maintenance workers in multi-family housing
- Painters and other specialty trades.
Contractors must understand that after April 22, 2010, federal law will require you to be certified and to use lead-safe work practices. To become certified, contractors must submit an application, complete the necessary training, and pay the required fee to EPA.
Contractors who perform renovation, repairs, and painting jobs should also:
- Take training to learn how to perform lead-safe work practices
- 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
- Learn the lead laws that apply to you regarding certification and lead-safe work practices beginning in April 2010
- 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
- Keep records to demonstrate that you and your workers have been trained in lead-safe work practices and that you followed lead-safe work practices on the job
Information for Realtors and Property Management Firms
Realtors and property managers should make themselves aware of the requirements in the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule.
Moving forward, all contractors (who may at some time work on a building built before 1978) should immediately become familiar with the requirements of EPA’s RRP Rule. They should also complete the necessary training and certification requirements. Failure to do so could result in the loss of jobs an/or penalties under the new Rule.
DBYD is a full-service law firm whose attorneys stand ready to ensure compliance with EPA’s RRP Rule. If you have any questions or concerns regarding EPA’s requirements, please contact Eric C. Frey, Esquire at 215-362-2474 or .
*This article was published by Dischell Bartle Yanoff & Dooley, P.C. It does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice. Your receipt of this publication does not create or constitute an attorney-client relationship. You should not consider this publication to be an invitation for an attorney-client relationship, you should not rely on the information provided in this publication without first obtaining separate legal advice, and you should always seek the advice of competent legal counsel in your own state. This publication should not be viewed as an offer to perform legal services in any jurisdiction other than those in which DBYD's attorneys are licensed to practice. DO NOT send DBYD any information concerning a potential legal representation until you have spoken with one of DBYD’s attorneys and obtained authorization to send that information.