EPA Lead safe updates ?

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renosteinke said:
I did not want to get bogged down in the details. While I respect your right to disagree, I assure all that when I say something is 'debatable,' I'm not just imagining things. Like the EPA 'guidance' regarding lead tests- I can point to EPA links that are in conflict with each other. Ditto for the vacuum issue. Ditto my reference to 2 sq. ft.
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I really don't want to beat a dead farm animal on this topic, but since you posted the above claims they really ought to be challenged lest someone else be misled. Those details you don't want to get bogged down on actually matter quite a bit.

I have made serious study of the RRP, I had to because literally all of my customers own pre-1978 houses and I like to rip holes in their plaster. I've read all the published EPA crap, most of it several times, and I haven't found inconsistencies. Most of the weaknesses in their general guidance IMO gets clarified pretty well in the rather extensive FAQ.

So....if as you say you can find conflicting EPA guidance about lead testing, HEPA vacs, and (your imaginary) 2 sf EPA rule, please do us residential folks all a favor and post it. In detail. Otherwise, well, you know. ;)

I'll also add this, for whatever it's worth: for all the hue and cry, in the first 12 months of RRP's application I've had exactly 1 job that hit the 6sf painted surface per room rule. If you're careful and plan well, you can usually cut all the holes you need in one room without worry. If I hadn't had to remove a baseboard in one room because of a 2' clog of debris in a stud cavity, I wouldn't have hit that limit once.
 
The pamphlet that OSHA requires you to provide to your customers plainly states on the first page "2 square feet." You should have one handy. Check it out.

Mind you, the footage matters only in reference to the required proctective measures. As the rules are written, ANY work in a pre-78 home require you to provide the pamphlet and have the customer sign the acknowledgement. You're required to be certified just to walk in the door.

Again, I am simply parroting the EPA position. I am not, here, commenting on it.
 
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renosteinke said:
The pamphlet that OSHA requires you to provide to your customers plainly states on the first page "2 square feet." You should have one handy. Check it out.
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Whatever OSHA or HUD require is their business. :) The important fact is that the RRP is the EPA's baby, and that rule is 6sf of painted interior surface per room.

renosteinke said:
As the rules are written, ANY work in a pre-78 home require you to provide the pamphlet and have the customer sign the acknowledgement.
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Worth noting that we were already required to provide that pamphlet well before the RRP kicked in last year. None of us actually did it, probably because weren't required to keep signed acknowledgements on file. ;)
 
(d) Work practice requirements. Applicable certification, occupant protection, and clearance requirements and work practice standards are found in regulations issued by EPA at 40 CFR part 745, subpart L and in regulations issued by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) at 24 CFR part 35, subpart R. The work practice standards in those regulations do not apply when treating paint-lead hazards of less than:

(1) Two square feet of deteriorated lead-based paint per room or equivalent,

(2) Twenty square feet of deteriorated paint on the exterior building, or

(3) Ten percent of the total surface area of deteriorated paint on an interior or exterior type of component with a small surface area.
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This is a link to the above from 745.65

http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...view=text&node=40:30.0.1.1.13&idno=40#PartTop
 
billsnuff said:
This is a link to the above from 745.65....
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Yep, fun reading. :)

Note that your excerpt is from their definitions of a lead hazard.

The good stuff for us plaster blasters is buried in 745.83: "Minor repair and maintenance activities are activities, including minor heating, ventilation or air conditioning work, electrical work, and plumbing, that disrupt 6 square feet or less of painted surface per room for interior activities or 20 square feet or less of painted surface for exterior activities where none of the work practices prohibited or restricted by ?745.85(a)(3) are used and where the work does not involve window replacement or demolition of painted surface areas."
 
Has anyone done the math on how many hi-hats you would have to cut into one room's ceiling before you you exceed 6 sq ft ? I have. The formula for the area of a circle is Pi x r squared. So, let's take a 6" hi-hat. The radius of that circle is 3". That would mean 3.1417 x 3 x 3 =28.28 sq inches (let's use 28 for simplicity). Six sq ft (in inches) is 144" x 6 = 864" divided by 28" = slightly more than 30 hi hats. Anyone doing jobs like that ? The only other scenario I could think of is if you had to cut in a breaker panel into an existing wall. That might present a problem but even then I don't think you'd exceed 6 sq ft.

I know when the Govt. gets involved they'll want to nail anyone they can. BTW, who's going to enforce this ? I know the present administration hired 16,000 new IRS accountants to make sure you're paying your taxes but did they also hire 16,000 new EPA agents as well ?:mad:
 
A minor correction to my last post ...

I meant to say that the EPA requires the pamphlet, not OSHA. A typo on my part.

The 2 sq. ft. criterial stands. The six sq. ft. criteria is history.
 
It appears that you misunderstood me.

I simply will not let this thread be diverted any further.

That is not to say I will not support my case on any of the details I mentioned. I simply believe that the 'tangents' deserve their own threads - so, if you want to discuss this further, YOU can start a new thread.
 
nj rules

nj rules

THIS FILE INCLUDES ALL REGULATIONS ADOPTED AND PUBLISHED THROUGH THE ***
*** NEW JERSEY REGISTER, VOL. 42, NO. 11, JUNE 7, 2010 ***
TITLE 5. COMMUNITY AFFAIRS
CHAPTER 17. LEAD HAZARD EVALUATION AND ABATEMENT CODE​
N.J.A.C. 5:17​
This document is provided as a courtesy only; the official Administrative Rules
of the State of NJ are available through LexisNexis, the publisher licensed by
the NJ Office of Administrative Law, or through your local public library.​
Page 5 of 44​
? 5:17-2.1 Certification required
(a) Effective January 1, 1996, no individual, partnership, corporation or other business entity shall
engage in either the business of lead evaluation or the business of lead abatement, unless certified
by the Department in accordance with section 15 of P.L. 1993, c.288 (​
​
​
​
N.J.S.A. 52:27D-428) and
these rules.
1. For lead abatement jobs performed on superstructures where public bidding procedures are
applicable, projects with an advertisement date that precedes September 24, 1997 may proceed
without a certified lead abatement contractor.
(b) Any individual, corporation, partnership or other business entity seeking certification in accordance
with these rules shall either be certified or shall employ individuals certified by the Department
of Health in accordance with section 3 of P.L. 1993, c.288 (N.J.S.A. 26:2Q-3) (see​

N.J.A.C. 8:62​
​
​
​
​
) and shall designate a person, certified as a lead abatement supervisor by the Department
of Health, at each job site to be responsible for ensuring compliance with the requirements
of P.L. 1993, c.288 and of these rules.
(c) Contractor certification shall not be required for the following individuals or activities:
1. An owner undertaking work on his or her own premises using his or her own employees,
provided that those employees are certified by the Department of Health;
2. A homeowner performing lead abatement work himself or herself on a dwelling unit that he
or she owns and occupies as a primary place of residence;
3. Any business firm engaging in painting, woodworking, structural renovation or other indoor or
outdoor contracting services that may result in the disturbance of paint, provided that the firm does
not hold itself out as certified by the Department or otherwise represent that it has specialized
competency to perform lead evaluation or abatement work; or
4. A person with proof that he or she has completed a State-approved or HUD-sponsored training
class to be a "clearance technician," when that person is taking a dust wipe sample in the work
area following renovation, remodeling, repair or maintenance work; provided, however, that the activities
that may be performed without evaluation contractor certification shall be limited to performing
dust wipe sampling in the work area and providing a report with the results of the dust wipe
analysis. A clearance technician is not qualified to perform evaluation, and is not qualified to perform
clearance after a lead abatement, unless the clearance technician is employed by a certified
evaluation contractor.
(d) A corporation, partnership or other business entity may be denied certification if any stockholder,
director, officer, partner or other person having an economic interest in the organization
shall have violated any of the provisions of these rules or been denied certification for cause. This
provision shall also apply to any business organization having a parent or subsidiary relationship to
any such business organization.
(e) Local health departments or other public agencies performing lead evaluations shall not be​

required to
 
Housing built in 1978 or later.
? Housing for elderly or disabled persons, unless children under 6 reside or are expected to
reside there.
? Zero-bedroom dwellings (studio apartments, dormitories, etc.).
? Housing or components that have been declared lead-free. Such a declaration
can be made by a certi​
​
​
​
fi ed inspector or risk assessor. Also, a certifi ed renovator
may declare specifi c components lead-free using an EPA recognized test kit.
? Minor repair and maintenance activities that disturb 6 square feet or
less of paint per room inside, or 20 square feet or less on the exterior
of a home or building.
? Note: minor repair and maintenance activities do not include​

window replacement and projects involving demolition or prohibited practices.
 
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