Costs Of RRP Compliance Challenging Many Businesses and Likely To Go Higher!

Renovators have justified their concerns about the additional costs of complying with the EPA RRP Rule based on two different but interdependent reasons.  First is the cost to the business.  Businesses that do comply have to pay to become a certified firm, pay training fees for the required certified renovator training, pay the wages of the certified renovator while he/she trains non-certified workers, pay the wages of employees while they attend training, and must purchase all of the tools, related equipment and personal protection equipment needed by workers to do the work.   Second, they cite the additional labor and material costs to perform the work.  

These additional costs might not be all that burdensome if all contractors doing RRP work shared the same burdens and where able to recover these costs through the selling prices of their jobs.  But, the additional costs become an extreme burden for many businesses if and when they are in competition with illegally operating businesses that avoid the additional costs and therefore are offering lower prices to consumers.  Many contractors are reporting that the additional costs are putting them out of business.

Ready for some more bad news?   The costs of compliance are likely to go up even higher, for complying businesses as well as for consumers. 

• First, the proposed dust wipe amendment, if approved, will definitely increase projects costs and will result in delaying when the consumer can get back into the renovated space. 
• Second, in addition to the costs related to the dust wipe testing, because contained areas cannot be re-inhabited until the tests show no lead dust, consumers may need to seek alternate living arrangements while waiting for test results to come back from laboratories. 
• Third, because of the lack of a cost effective lead test kit that will recognize lead based on the legal definition of lead equal to or in excess of 1.0 mg/cm\2\ or 0.5% by weight, many projects that would not require lead safe practices must still be performed using lead-safe practices. 

Here is excerpt from the final rule preamble:

“Number of events and individuals affected: In the first year that all of the rule requirements will be in effect, there will be an estimated 8.4 million renovation, repair, and painting events where lead-safe work practices will be used due to the rule. As a result, there will be approximately 1.4 million children under the age of 6 who will be affected by having their exposure to lead dust minimized due to the rule. There will also be about 5.4 million adults who will be affected. After improved test kits for determining whether a painted surface contains lead-based paint become available (which is assumed in the analysis to occur by the second year of the rule), the number of renovation, repair, and painting events using lead-safe work practices is expected to drop to 4.4 million events per year. No change in the number of exposures avoided due to the rule is expected because the improved test kit will more accurately identify paint without lead, thus reducing the number of events unnecessarily using the required work practices.”

So, because the EPA falsely assumed that the improved test kits would be available by September 2010, 4.4 million RRP projects will bear the additional cost of lead-safe practices that would not be required if the improved test kits were available.  That one bad assumption by EPA, based on the bogus and underestimated average additional cost of $35 per project, will result in $140 million in additional costs for projects “unnecessarily using the required work practices”.   What do you think about that?   What would consumers think about that?

The RRP Renovation Checklist Must Be Given to Certain Parties At The Completion Of Renovations

Because of one of the EPA RRP amendments, there is a new requirement regarding documentation.  As of the amendment that took effect on July 6th, 2010, when the final invoice for the renovation is delivered, or within 30 days of the completion of the renovation, whichever is earlier, the renovation firm must provide information demonstrating compliance with the training and work practice requirements of the RRP rule to the owner of the building being renovated and, if different, to the occupants of the renovated housing or the operator of the child-occupied facility.

• For renovations in common areas of target housing, the renovation firm must provide the occupants of the affected housing units instructions on how to review or obtain this information from the renovation firm at no charge to the occupant. These instructions must be included in the notice provided to each affected unit or on signs posted in common areas. Similar requirements apply for renovations in child-occupied facilities.
• The renovation firm is also required to provide interested parents or guardians of children using the child-occupied facility instructions on how to review or obtain a copy of these records at no cost to the parents or guardians. This could be accomplished by mailing or hand delivering these instructions, or by including them on the signs posted.
• Renovation firms must provide training and work practice information to owners and occupants. The information should be provided in a short, easily read checklist or other form. EPA's "Sample Renovation Recordkeeping Checklist'' may be used for this purpose, but firms may develop their own forms or checklists so long as they include all of the required information.

• The specific information that is required to be provided are training and work practice compliance information, as well as identifying information on the manufacturer and model of the test kits used, if any, a description of the components that were tested including their locations, and the test kit results.
• The checklist or form must include documentation that a certified renovator was assigned to the project, that the certified renovator provided on-the-job training for workers used on the project, that the certified renovator performed or directed workers who performed the tasks required by the RRP rule, and that the certified renovator performed the post-renovation cleaning verification.
• This documentation must include a certification by the certified renovator that the work practices were followed, with narration as applicable.
• EPA is not requiring that the renovation firm automatically provide a copy of the certified renovator's training certificate, which must be maintained in the firm's records as an attachment to the checklist or other form.

If you are looking for forms and signage to help you with comply with the EPA RRP rule, I recommend you check out what The Lead Paint Forms Store has to offer.

There has been a lot of confusion regarding the recent announcements, delays, amendments and proposed amendments related to the EPA RRP Rule.  Many of these are explained and clarified in several articles that can be found here on this RRPedia page under the tag heading of "EPA RRP Rule Updates" found in the blue box on the right side of this web page. 

For additional RRPedia postings and updates, be sure to subscribe to this page to receive e-mail notifications of new postings as they happen.

This article is intended to remind you of a variety of new considerations that take effect on July 6th, 2010 due to the Amendment to the Opt-out and Recordkeeping Provisions in the Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program [RIN 2070-AJ55]. 

Below are considerations you should be aware of and be prepared for.  I have also provided some suggestions to help you. None of this information should be considered as all inclusive and or as legal advice.  I recommend you qualify and seek additional legal advice about this information from qualified legal counsel.  Contractors should also have any documentation they use to comply with the RRP Rule reviewed by legal counsel prior to use.

For clarification, the June 18, 2010 memo delaying enforcement of certain certification requirements does not have any effect on these new considerations:

1. As of July 6th, the home owner opt-out provision will no longer be available for use on RRP covered renovations.

• a. Even if the contract for the work was signed prior to July 6^th and/or the project has already been started, the RRP Rule work practices and documentation requirements must be followed starting July 6^th
• b. If, before midnight on July 5^th, you can complete any work or demolition that disturbs painted surfaces on projects where you already had a signed opt-out from the homeowner, I suggest you do so to avoid the additional costs to comply and/or the risks associated with operating in violation of the RRP Rule.
• c. As I have stated in other articles here on RRPedia, a signed opt-out would still not relieve you from potential liability should the work you do and/or how you do it causes lead contamination and/or lead poisoning.
• d. As an extra level of protection for you, your business, your employees, your customer and/or the occupants of the space you are renovating; if you plan to use the strategy suggested in item "1b" above, I suggest you still do the post renovation cleaning and cleaning verification procedure as required under the RRP Rule before restarting work again on July 6^th.
• e. Beginning July 6^th, 2010, as long as the work you do does not disturb any painted surfaces, you can precede using traditional work practices.
• f. To avoid any confusion, I also recommend you remove the opt-out information from whatever pre-renovation form you use to document delivery of the Renovate Right pamphlet.

2. There are also new requirements regarding documentation. Beginning July 6th, 2010, when the final invoice for the renovation is delivered, or within 30 days of the completion of the renovation, whichever is earlier, the renovation firm must provide information demonstrating compliance with the training and work practice requirements of the RRP rule to the owner of the building being renovated and, if different, to the occupants of the renovated housing or the operator of the child-occupied facility.

• a. For renovations in common areas of target housing, the renovation firm must provide the occupants of the affected housing units instructions on how to review or obtain this information from the renovation firm at no charge to the occupant. These instructions must be included in the notice provided to each affected unit or on signs posted in common areas. Similar requirements apply for renovations in child-occupied facilities.
• b. The renovation firm is also required to provide interested parents or guardians of children using the child-occupied facility instructions on how to review or obtain a copy of these records at no cost to the parents or guardians. This could be accomplished by mailing or hand delivering these instructions, or by including them on the signs posted.
• c. Renovation firms must provide training and work practice information to owners and occupants. The information should be provided in a short, easily read checklist or other form. EPA's "Sample Renovation Recordkeeping Checklist'' may be used for this purpose, but firms may develop their own forms or checklists so long as they include all of the required information.

• d. The specific information that is required to be provided are training and work practice compliance information, as well as identifying information on the manufacturer and model of the test kits used, if any, a description of the components that were tested including their locations, and the test kit results.
• e. The checklist or form must include documentation that a certified renovator was assigned to the project, that the certified renovator provided on-the-job training for workers used on the project, that the certified renovator performed or directed workers who performed the tasks required by the RRP rule, and that the certified renovator performed the post-renovation cleaning verification.
• f. This documentation must include a certification by the certified renovator that the work practices were followed, with narration as applicable.
• g. EPA is not requiring that the renovation firm automatically provide a copy of the certified renovator's training certificate, which must be maintained in the firm's records as an attachment to the checklist or other form.

If you are looking for forms and signage to help you with comply with the EPA RRP rule, I recommend you check out what The Lead Paint Forms Store has to offer.

In an April 23 news release, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced release of two new amendments to the EPA RRP Lead: Renovation, Repair and Painting rule regarding dust wipe testing and their intention to apply the rule to public and commercial buildings.

  The proposed amendments would change the lead rule as a direct result of a voluntary legal settlement with several environmental groups that challenged the original regulation.

According to the NAHB the proposed amendments would:

• Require abatement-style dust wipe testing and share results with home occupants and owners.This rule change will apply to certain remodeling activities and require the renovator to achieve the EPA's strict numerical limits for lead dust levels on window sills, window troughs, and floors. The EPA's numerical lead dust standards are the same as those dictated to lead-based paint abatement firms for achieving "clearance" under EPA's abatement rules. Depending on the outcome of this upcoming amendment, remodelers and other contractors may also be subject to additional regulatory restrictions at the state and local level triggered by the knowledge of disturbing lead-based paint. After this proposal is published, it will be out for a 60 day comment period with the goal of completing and finalizing this rule change in July 2011. Click here to view or save the proposed amendment as a PDF
• Apply the lead rule to public and commercial buildings. The EPA plans to amend the rule to expand its scope over both public and commercial buildings. NAHB will follow this development but expects the proposal to come out after the clearance testing amendment.  Click here to view or save the proposed amendment as a PDF