Lead Paint Certification

[orson]

Alright, I'm still confused as hell about the EPA lead paint certification.

From what I can tell on the EPA website and application form you basically just fill out the form and pay your 500 plus dollars and you are certified?

I see nothing that indicates any required course work or certification process beyond just submitting an application and some almighty $$$.

Am I understanding this correctly?

I'm also seeing hints about what you actually need to do differently to be in compliance with "the new rules" but I haven't waded through the four thousand miles of bullshit yet to figure out what is involved, I've only gotten through about two thousand miles so far.

Has anyone here gotten enough of a grasp on what is going on with this to explain clearly what we need to do to

A. get certified

B. comply with the certification/rules

?

Also: do all my subs have to be certified? If not, which ones or none?
Do I need to keep their certification on file if they do need to be certified?

[Eieio]

You have to go through training and get certified and then send in your info to the epa.

Your subs should get certified, but if they are working under you, it might be a mute issue.

[kevjob]

There two certifications, individual and firm, individual takes the class for 2-300 then the firm cert 300? is for recording etc.. not exactly sure how the firrm thing works I take my class november 9th so I will let you know.

[ModernStyle]

I will look into it more in the spring, right now I am slow and not looking to spend money on something that I wont need often.

[dan-o]

I'm taking the course on Nov 6th and will follow-up here.
My understanding is that a certified person needs to be onsite during specific stages of the project (set up and clean up specifically).
For my multi-crew company I am certifying myself and my foremen. The foremen will be onsite for the needed tasks and can also train the other workers.

I'm taking the training course at the PDCA conference (which I'm not attending) for $259.

[RCP]

There are different certifications.

What activities may each discipline perform?
Inspectors may perform inspection and post-abatement clearance activities.
Risk assessors may perform inspection, post-abatement clearance, lead hazard screen, and risk assessment activities.
Abatement supervisors may supervise abatement projects and prepare occupant protection plans and abatement reports.
Supervisors may also perform all of the abatement activities that may be performed by abatement workers.
Project designers may prepare occupant protection plans and abatement reports for abatement projects.
Abatement workers may conduct abatement activities under the direction of certified abatement supervisors.

More here (http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/certqa.htm#2)

[Tommy]

RCP- I don't think the OP is talking about abatement certification. I think he's talking about the "Certified Renovator" part. The way I understand it, each of us will have to be certified as a firm, and we also have to have individual certifications. The individual ones are the ones that we have to go to class for.

Each job where we disturb so many square feet, we will have to use lead safe work practices. An individually certified person will have to be there sor the set-up and clean-up of the site.

[Tommy]

Here's a link to the EPA's "Small Entity Compliance Guide"

w w w.epa.gov/lead/pubs/sbcomplianceguide.pdf



Dammit. Can't post links yet.

[Tommy]

This place has some classes around ND and MN for anyone that's interested

w w w.eti.und.edu/?p=72


Course Schedule

09608 October 14, 2009 Grand Forks, ND
09611 December 1, 2009 Fargo, ND
09612 December 4, 2009 Minot ANG, ND
09604 December 9, 2009 Bismarck, ND
09613 February 5, 2010 Marshall, MN
09614 February 10, 2010, Rochester, MN
09602 March 3, 2010 Sioux Falls, SD
09605 March 11, 2010 St. Cloud, MN
09609 April 9, 2010 Grand Forks, ND
09610 May 10, 2010 Grand Forks, ND

[orson]

Here's a link to the EPA's "Small Entity Compliance Guide"

www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/sbcomplianceguide.pdf



Dammit. Can't post links yet.

Tommy,

Thanks for the link, I did not find that information browsing around the EPA website.

That clears up most of my questions.

One question I have left: The EPA estimates that the new regs will increase the cost to homeowners on renovation projects by an average of $35.
Did they pass around a crackpipe before calculating that number?

[nEighter]

Yeah this has me totally confused also. I am wondering how they are going to enforce it. I wonder if there is a map of homes built prior to 78 that we can get ahold of.. or a site that has the mapping so you know before even going to bid that it has lead paint.

[dan-o]

To clarify, I'm taking the Certified Renovator class next week.
I'll probably also take the Inspector and Risk Assessor classes over the winter if I can determine a market locally for those. Lead paint is a given in 80% of the housing we work on.

$35 added cost to the consumer? HGTV must've run the numbers.

[SLS-Construction]

As one that took the class - yah they were smoking something or only looking at "dust free" contractors where it may only add a little bit more time / materials

The information above is correct - the EPA form is you simply certifying that your business will use or hire a LEAD Certified Renovators

The class is for an INDIVIDUAL certification - i.e. an LCR that must be there to post the signs, put up the containment area, and do the wipe testing with a Swifter (i.e. how clean the surfaces are, not if there is lead on them - Swifter stock is going up)

A few quick heads up - more than likely on the 22nd the Opt-Out option is going bye-bye & if a few people get there way in the next year or two, you will have to use an independent third party tester which depending on the tests they have to do can be expensive.

[nEighter]

$35 added cost to the consumer? HGTV must've run the numbers.

how did they come up with that number?

[orson]

Yeah this has me totally confused also. I am wondering how they are going to enforce it. I wonder if there is a map of homes built prior to 78 that we can get ahold of.. or a site that has the mapping so you know before even going to bid that it has lead paint.

Most homeowners know what year their house was built. I ask them during the initial meeting.

how did they come up with that number?

They probably just took the firm certification fee and divided it by some arbitrary number of projects per year.

Never mind all the extra work and materials to actually comply with the regs.

Never mind the time spent filling out the apps, taking the course, paying for the course.

Never mind the time making and hanging signs, filling out paperwork, time spent on record keeping.

We should just do all that stuff for free out of the goodness of our hearts.

[kevjob]

the test for lead is around 400.00 for each test and I believe 2 are required one before and one after, plus all the extra time and to mask off and special vacuums etc.. yeah 35.00 sounds right :rolleyes3: more like 1-3k.

[neolitic]

The EPA estimates that the new regs will increase the cost to homeowners on renovation projects by an average of $35.
Did they pass around a crackpipe before calculating that number?

One house with lead paint @ $3500.
99 houses built or renovated after
the lead ban, 99X$0=$0 + 1@ $3500
=$3500÷100=$35 average.

[framer55]

Tommy,

Thanks for the link, I did not find that information browsing around the EPA website.

That clears up most of my questions.

One question I have left: The EPA estimates that the new regs will increase the cost to homeowners on renovation projects by an average of $35.
Did they pass around a crackpipe before calculating that number?

That seems to be the consensous!:)

[RCP]

Yeah this has me totally confused also. I am wondering how they are going to enforce it. I wonder if there is a map of homes built prior to 78 that we can get ahold of.. or a site that has the mapping so you know before even going to bid that it has lead paint.

To get a general idea, you can use Google Earth, for most areas you can use a time slider to see what the area looked like in 1978.
Here is New York in 1978