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Is a new lead safety law for professional renovators too much government? Or just enough?
The new law, issued by the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), goes into effect April 22, 2010. It requires workers to take extra precautions when handling
lead-based paint during renovations on houses, child-care facilities and schools built before 1978. The new measures include testing for lead with swabs, sealing off the area inside with plastic sheeting, masks and other protective gear for workers, proper clean-up and
proper disposal of the lead-based paint.
So what's wrong with playing it safe? One of the chief complaints is that all these extra precautions could force contractors to drive up the price of home renovations in houses built before 1978. Some detractors say the new standards place too big a burden on professional renovators.
If your home was build before 1978, and the contractors you hire don't have the proper certifications, or have not trained their workers, they will not be legally allowed to do the work.
But the process of certifying hundreds of thousands of
contractors -- which requires attending an 8-hour class and passing a written test -- and training their workers takes time, and it's lagging far behind. Some contractors critical of the new rules say they will not comply and will simply stop working on older homes, which are more likely to contain lead paint.
Those contractors who
do choose to work in older homes will have to charge a lot more for the extra training, certification, materials, and steps involved in testing for lead paint.
And that's homeowners' chief criticism of the new regulations: they'll inevitably drive up the costs of home improvement.
Other critics say it's a case of big government going overboard.
When the new lead safety law goes into effect, professional remodelers working in homes, child care centers and schools will be required to shield areas where more than six feet of lead-based paint in sanded or otherwise disturbed, using dust containment systems like this one made by ZipWall. Photo: Zipwall
And it's not just small contractors who object.
The National Association of Home Builders has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to
delay the requirements until the certification program gets spiffed up. Their complaints include a lack of qualified trainers and inaccurate test kits for lead paint. And on March 31, U.S. Senate Minority Leader John Boehner sent a
letter to EPA head Lisa Jackson asking her to "consider revisiting" the law until benefits are proven to outweigh the costs.
Of course, not everyone is opposed to the new regulations. Supporters of the new law hail the protection it gives to both professional renovation workers and the occupants of the homes and facilities under renovation. According to the
EPA, which mandated the protections, "Lead may cause a range of health effects, from behavioral problems and learning disabilities, to seizures and death.
Children six years old and under are most at risk."The protections could also affect children of renovation workers who could carry lead-contaminated dust home on their clothing, skin and Before the health dangers of lead were known, lead was used to strengthen many products, including paints.
Lead in paint was outlawed in 1978, thus houses built after that are generally considered lead-free, at least in terms of paint.The dried paint itself is not hazardous unless it is disturbed by renovation work, and can be ingested through breathing (in dust form) or orally (kids have a tendency to put small objects like paint chips into their mouths).
If you do your own renovations, this new law does not apply to you. However, the dangers of disturbed lead paint to children are well-documented. Homeowners would be wise to follow safety precautions when sanding, cutting into or otherwise disturbing paint that was applied prior to 1978.
Read more about the new law, which is being referred to as RRP for Renovation, Repair and Painting.
Kathy Price-Robinson is the author of Kathy's Remodeling Blog, where she covers home improvement news, trends, tips, and real-life renovations.
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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)
I've examined hundreds of lead inspection reports and never saw evidence of lead-based paint in houses built after the '60s.
ReplyIn regards to this Lead Paint Regulation that will be enforced April 22, 2010 .... as a family based paint company since 1973, this law will stop us in our tracks. We have already turned down jobs until we can see exactly what is expected of us and how much it will cost. We are already in a horrible economy, and this will cut us down at the knees. Government has abused their power once again. If this law remains and is enforced, it will force many business's out of business. Thanks Obama! Maybe you would like to start up a government run re-modeling and painting business after the government takes over health care and everything else from us little guys!
ReplyI was a successful general contractor for 20 years. With all of the new regulations comming down from " the experts in power" and the economy, I now work for wages for someone else. Another Obama regime power play.
ReplyThese environmental, mentally challenged idiots are going to regulate this country into oblivion!!
Replythanks to this law the company I work for is shutting down, so after 10 years in the business I am losing my job in a horrible economy! this doesn't just apply to old houses, it applies to all products that contain even the smallest amount lead such as tile. all waste suspected of having lead must be disposed of as hazardous materials! even the picture above miss-represents what a jobsite will look like. EVERY horizontal surface in the room must be covered in plastic, and the exterior must be covered in plastic & blocked off as a hazardous material area. nothing is re-usable, not plastic drop cloths, or booties, or one piece suits and gloves. in addition all plastic drop cloths must be cleaned before being properly disposed of, then the areas that were covered are to be cleaned and vacuumed with a HEPA vacuum until deemed lead free by a certified person! that's just the tip of the iceberg! if the waste generated from the job at hand weighs more then 50 lbs then it is to be sealed properly and left at the job site for a certified hazardous materiel disposal person to retrieve! the cost of retro fitting our company (3 employees) for this new law was about $20,000! but the best part was the EPA class instructor who stated that crime in lower class areas
I'm a contractor. Every time I got nailed with more government regulatory B.S., I just have the customer call the agency responsible and have that agency do the job. Believe it or not, I once called the I.R.S. and asked them to send someone over to haul shingles up to a roof I was working on. The woman asked why. I told her iof I had to pay 25% of my profit to the government, I wanted someone in the government to earn it. Needless to say, she didn't think it was funny, and nobody showed up.
ReplyI am not a contractor, but my family and I own income property, so we do most of the work ourselves. There was talk a few years ago that this law was going to effect people like me and my family and fortunately it doesn't seem to. And Obama may have passed this into law but this was Hillary's baby. She has worked on this for years.
ReplyTypical government over-reaction. The do-gooder types will forever try to justify their importance to society by going overboard on every "corrective" acyion they take; even if it means the alternative to it is rediculously expensive. Never any in-between--like trace amounts of lead being "almost" harmless, but oh no,thats not good enough!
ReplyThere always talking about lead in houses. Im laughing all fishing stuff have lead sinkers think about it split shot most people use to take there teeth to open them. Oh and all the toys and the little clown heads from china have lead paint opps how about that notice I sent in about the little make up kits. I dont think there is to much problem with lead paint from the USA and I would think that if they just made DVDs to send to companies free of charge so workers could view them when they were hired it wouldnt be a problem. They should be aware they could take dust home then they have a option to leave them over hauls there and wash better.!!
ReplyWhy? I grow up in the 50's and 60's we didn't eat the damn paint and my parents grow up in the 20's and 30's. One or two kids eat or do something they weren't suppose to do and everyone sufferes. Its the parents of these kids that are the problem.
ReplyAnd they still let people smoke cigs and drink?
ReplyEPA does not have the authority to make laws - only regulations.
ReplyI am a recently certified Lead Renovator and landlord.... and yes this does apply to YOU. EPA definition includes rental property (receiving rent is specifically listed in the final rule). If you read the information on www.epa.gov'lead and just read the final rule -- Real Estate Lessors and Property Managers are specifically
Replymentioned in who the rule applies to. It is a bit ridiculous -- and
I have spent about $1500 to be in compliance for now -- inlcuding a new HEPA vac -- try to find the definition for that -- an approved HEPA vac costs about $700 with the required power head attachment.
Plus the training, and as a contractor, I also had to register as a approved firm with the EPA to be able to do work on other people's property too
Just think, if you grew up in the 50's, 60's, and 70's, everything was great. Now the kids have all kinds of problems. Oh yeah, it is from our old houses...NOT. A contractor that just came over to visit today after his so called EPA class, he told me a little about it. Mostly plain stupid. For one thing, it is going to raise the average labor cost by around 40%. I think I have guessed what "Big Government" is up too. They want to make home replair on older homes so expensive that it is not affordable. Thus, the home owners will find it cheaper to destroy the home, collect the insurance, and rebuild.....Yes? No?
ReplyThe EPA is run by and populated by mentally challenged pinheads that a drop of sweat off their brow would cure cancer.
ReplyThey, like most government agencies think they are needed.
One or two people complain about something and they think they need to create rules and regulations governing it.
They have no meaning in their puny lives except to create useless moronic rules.
The government agencies like the EPA are the reason our country is in such bad shape. These agencies don't know that the decisions they make are causing negative impact on the economy.
ReplyIt will be a sad time when our perfectly clean air will be useless because no one will be around to breathe it. It will be outlawed like every thing else.
Our government has become the most repressive in our history.
Obama and his ilk are going to destroy us and we are letting him!
You know, I am quite surprised at the reaction to this. Who really does all of this.
ReplyYou contractors whining and crying about this are a bunch of morons. And most of you don't follow this regulatory stuff anyway. It is there to protect you, but should you not follow it and you do get ill or breath in some kind of lead paint or asbestos blah blah blah....when you go to court....the judge is going to ask if you followed the precautions outlined in the law. You will of course say no. Then your case is thrown out. People think this stuff is a joke. Well tell that to those folks dying from asbestos related metholelioma cancer. This is why our big health insurance premiums keep going up. Recklessness.
Our painting company has been in business since 1928 (3 generations) and now we will have to go out of business. Of course, since we do predominantly residential work, we compete with the station wagon warriors. But who will the EPA go after? Certainly not the station wagon warrior, but the contractor who has paid his licenses, carries insurance, has a yellow pages ad, pays payroll taxes. But not anymore! We're going underground too! Figure as a legitimate contractor -- I'm one of the first ones the EPA will hit with a fine -- a $32K fine! And we haven't even recovered from the recession yet. What are they trying to do to us? It's time to kick all of their pudgy, soft sit behind a desk all day asses out of Washington DC and bring in a whole new group. A group of working men and women, real people who understand real problems. I bet we are even smart enough that we could solve the problems -- even after being exposed to lead based paint and even without a college education. Whatever happened to "walk a mile in my shoes..."?
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Reply.:idea:
I live in an 1880's Victorian and the price of maintaining it is going to go up. This on top of all of the other things that are going up. It's a shame that those of us who preserve the country's architectural heritage are going to be burdened with even more cost for doing so.
ReplyBig government is ruling our lives more and more all the time.