Lead Paint Regulations Impact Renovation Firms

27. February 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: lead certification

The EPA has changed its policies on lead paint regulations. The lead RRP rule outlines safe working practices for renovations, repairs, and painting work that occurs in environments known to contain lead based paint. The lead RRP rule pertains to renovations that occur in pre-1978 schools, rentals, homes, or childcare facilities. According to EPA rules for lead safe renovations, anyone whose work can disturb lead based paint in pre-1978 buildings must obtain lead certification in order to continue working legally.

Without lead certification, a renovator or a renovation firm faces hefty fines that can skyrocket to $37,500, per infraction, per day. These fines can be compounded and can have the adverse effect of bankrupting a renovator or his firm. Rather than risk crippling EPA fines, you can instead obtain your lead certification by taking an EPA-approved lead training course. In as few as 8 hours, you will be prepared to take the EPA exam, which enables you to get started as a lead certified renovator.

Lead poisoning still poses a major health threat to adults, and especially to children, making the need to strict legislation around lead safety even more pressing. The EPA has risen to the occasion to make safer working practices an industry norm with its lead RRP rule. Compliance with EPA rules will protect you from the fines that can seriously harm your enterprise. A lead training course will teach you more about how the lead RRP rule might impact your business so that you can be sure your renovations are within regulation.

Lead based paint safety can limit the occurrences of lead poisoning and curb the public health threat of lead based paint exposure. The first step toward becoming a lead certified renovator is registering for an EPA-approved lead training course.

EPA’s Changing Lead Paint Regulations

20. January 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: lead paint regulations

Lead paint regulations are changing, and the EPA has stepped in to more closely monitor the activities of building professionals whose work can worsen the already problematic health issue of lead based paint exposure. To this end, the EPA has standardized working practices for lead renovators as well as the tools that these lead certified renovators must use to verify the present of lead based paint, contain the area where lead-disturbing activities will occur, and remove the remnants of lead renovations from the work site. The more diligent that building professionals can be about lead safe work practices, the sooner lead exposure can be eradicated in the United States.

There are various ways to go about familiarizing yourself with lead safe work practices. You can research lead paint regulations directly on the EPA website, and you can take a lead training course, which you will need to take in order to obtain your EPA certification to work as a lead certified renovator. If you do not obtain your lead certification but continue to work in pre-1978 buildings, then the EPA can fine you up to $37,500 per violation, per day. You can protect yourself from EPA fines by enrolling in a lead training class from an EPA-approved provider.

When the EPA found that lead poisoning was in fact preventable, it outlawed the use of lead based paint in buildings in 1978. More recently, the EPA created a new set of lead paint regulations to monitor construction activities that contribute to lead based paint exposure. The lead RRP rule summarizes these new EPA rules, which renovators will need to know when providing services in pre-1978 facilities. You can learn exactly how to adhere to lead paint legislation by registering for an EPA certification course from a lead training provider whose course has been approved by the EPA.

 

 

 


Lead Paint Regulations Affect Renovation Firms, Too

15. January 2012 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: lead paint regulations

The lead RRP rule represents the EPA’s regulation of lead safe practices for renovation, repair, and painting work in pre-1978 childcare facilities and homes. In response to the pressing health issue of lead paint exposure in children and adults, the EPA has set forth a body of best practices that building professionals must adhere to when working in pre-1978 buildings. Because simple renovation activities such as replacing a doorknob, sanding a surface, or repainting a wall can cause lead based paint chips to chip off and disperse, renovators must now seek EPA lead certification after completing a lead training in lead paint regulations and lead based paint safety.

Any person who continues to provide renovation, repair, or painting work in pre-1978 lead homes must obtain a lead certificate as soon as possible. The EPA has specified steep fines for any building professional that violates the lead RRP rule. Unfortunately for renovators, violating lead paint regulations is relatively easy. In fact, a passerby or another firm can report activities they suspect to be in violation of lead paint requirements.

For example, if your neighbor owns a competing renovation firm and sees your team of renovators removing paint from an exterior wall of a building that they are restoring, this person can suggest to the EPA that the renovators may not be lead certified and are therefore in violation of the lead RRP rule. From there, the EPA can fine the firm and the renovators up to $37,500 for every infraction, meaning for the paint removal and any other unsafe activities. This fine can be levied daily, even after the infraction has already been made.

A thorough understanding of lead paint regulations can help you and your firm stay in compliance with the EPA’s lead RRP rule. A lead certification course will teach you everything you need to know in order to comply with lead safety requirements.

 

Lead Paint Regulations Regulate Lead Testing Kits

27. December 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: lead paint regulations

The EPA’s lead RRP rule contains lead paint regulations for safe working practices for renovators and construction workers who engage in activities that have been ruled to cause the migration of lead based paint chips, which when ingested by children, can cause developmental defects. Any renovator who works in homes, childcare facilities, or schools built before 1978 must obtain EPA certification. Lead certified renovators are recognized by the EPA as being trained in safe working procedures in environments containing lead paint.

You can learn more about lead paint regulations as outlined by the EPA by taking a lead training course from an EPA-accredited provider. Students of lead training classes complete an online training component along with a field training component to gain a hands on understanding of lead paint safety as it pertains to renovation, repair, and painting work.

The EPA lead regulations also specify what tools renovators can use to check for the presence of lead based paint. There are a variety of lead check testing kits that have been deemed safe and accurate under the ETV program, or the Environmental Technology Verification program. ETV-approved lead test kits can help renovators determine whether persons on the worksite need to be lead RRP certified or not. If an approved lead testing kit shows no lead paint in a working area, then the renovator can technically work in the area without lead certification. A lead training course can offer additional scenarios to give students practice in making safe decisions when working in pre-1978 buildings.

Lead paint regulations aim to reduce the health hazards of lead paint exposure for occupants of pre-1978 buildings. When the renovators who work in those facilites are lead certified by the EPA, they acknowledge that they have been trained in lead safe working practices from an EPA-approved training provider.

 

Lead Paint Regulations Aim To Prevent Lead Poisoning

05. December 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Uncategorized · Tags: epa lead paint regulations, lead paint regulations

The EPA’s lead paint regulations, summed up in the lead RRP rule, were designed to combat the public health issue of lead paint exposure, which can cause severe developmental problems in young children. Any child who lives in a home or occupies a childcare facility that was built before 1978 is at risk of lead paint exposure, because prior to 1978, lead based paint was the primary paint used in homes and childcare facilities. Large, low-income housing developments were commonly painted with lead based paint, making the issue of lead exposure more problematic for occupants of housing developments. The lead RRP rule pertains to lead safe practices for people who provide renovation, repair, and painting services, all activities which can contribute to the spread of lead based paint chips. When these lead paint chips disperse beyond the working area, children can easily access them, ingest them, and be affected by the lead paint.

Lead poisoning is a preventable health issue that the EPA is tackling by putting in place strict regulations for lead based paint activities. The best way to become familiar with the EPA’s lead paint regulations is to register for a lead certification course. A lead certification course from an accredited provider teaches students how to work safely in lead homes. The course take only 8 hours and can be completed online. The lead training course outlines recommendations for properly containing and cleaning up a working area to prevent the spread of lead dust. EPA lead paint certification is now mandatory for any person who provides renovation, repair, or painting services to occupants of pre-1978 childcare facilities and homes.

To learn how to protect yourself from EPA fines for violating the lead RRP rule, consider registering for an EPA lead certification course so that you can obtain the proper lead renovator certificate and continue working safely in pre-1978 facilities without jeopardizing public health.

 

Lead Sampling Kits And The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program

08. November 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: Lead Testing · Tags: lead paint regulations, Lead Testing

For contractors, the EPA’s Environmental Technology Verification ETV program can help you discern among various lead check testing kits. When these lead check testing kits are backed by EPA rules, you can rest assured that any working area that you deem safe by a reading from a lead check testing kit that has been approved under the ETV program provides accurate data pertaining to the safety of a lead repair, lead renovation, or lead painting procedure.

When working in or around lead homes, you will need to use some form of ETV-approved lead check testing kit to verify the necessity of EPA certification in lead RRP for all of the contractors working at the site. If an ETV-approved lead check testing kit reveals the lead home is in fact not a lead home, even if it was built before 1978, then any contractor with relevant professional qualifications can work in the area without threatening public health with the migration of paint lead.

The LeadAVERT™ lead check testing kit bears the EPA seal of approval under the ETV program, meaning contractors, renovators, electricians, plumbers, architects, and other construction professionals can safely use the LeadAVERT™ lead check testing kit to verify the paint safety of a working area. If the LeadAVERT™ lead check testing kit reveals the presence of lead based paint, then the contractor can take the appropriate measures, including the use of vertical containment systems, the provision of building occupants with a required brochure on lead based paint safety, and the employment of only EPA lead RRP certified contractors for the particular job.

Contractors would be wise to use the ETV program to discern among various lead check testing kits, many of which take around 15 minutes to verify the presence or absence of lead from an area that you trace and from which you extract a sample to place into a vial from the lead testing kit. The D-LEAD® Professional Paint Test Kit is another ETV-approved lead sampling kit that you can use in compliance with EPA lead RRP rules. Using an ETV-approved lead check testing kit such as the LeadAVERT™ is a quick process that requires no power source.