Brief: It’s now a violation of the law for hired help to work on a house or child-occupied facility built pre-1978. The offense is disturbing lead-based paint. The enforcer is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The violation is failure to follow Repair, Renovation, & Painting (RRP) Rule.
It is now finable for anyone who is compensated for work performed on a pre-1978 house or child-occupied facility without EPA certification. That means if a property owner employs the services of anyone to help them out with any project, inside or outside, on a property bigger than bread box, can be fined. The teeth are a fine of almost $40k given to the entity that performs the work.
Certification
EPA Certification is twofold. First, the entity (person or company) must receive a firm certification. The other is a certification of a person who oversees the lead based paint surface preparation work. GP&D Restoration received Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) firm certification August 25, 2010. In addition, we employ two (2) certified renovators who oversee all repair and painting surface preparation work.
When you contact an entity to repair and / or paint it is important that you are asked whether the house is pre-1978 or a child occupied facility. Upon the first visit you are given a pamphlet explaining the hazards of lead based paint. You are then given the opportunity to have a lead based paint test performed on the affected areas where the work is being performed to determine the existence of lead based paint. The LBP test results are then used to give you a more accurate estimate.
If the test results are negative then normal surface preparation procedures are followed. However, if the LBP test results come back positive a whole new process is set in motion. Every demolition or surface preparation aspect of the project is done with people in white coveralls who use tons of plastic and clean the area to a pristine level. These are the conditions compensated entities must take who conduct repair or painting activities.
