lead regulation compliance summary

Tri-Tech Building Hygiene Services

23841 Republic

Oak Park, Michigan 48237

[email protected]

248.721.8574

“Providing Commercial-Grade Indoor Environmental Testing Services on a Residential budget”

asbestos·lead paint·mold

Re: Compliance with Lead Regulations

To help you navigate the morass of regulatory requirements, this summary of Lead-Based Paint regulations is provided courtesy of Tri-Tech Building Hygiene Services. Disclosures and Right-to-Know Regulations

Most rental property owners are familiar with the disclosure requirements for Lead-Based Paint related to leasing and renovations. In both cases, this involves providing an EPA pamphlet and documenting receipt by the unit occupant. There is an additional disclosure pertaining to sale of property. Finally, there is a disclosure requirement to your employees for working around lead-based paint. These disclosures should be documented with signed forms. Testing For Occupancy

The City of Detroit is one of the few cities in the country requiring a full lead inspection and clearance. Most of the others are located on the East Coast. Lead testing is sometimes required for landlord rental property insurance. Landlords may optionally conduct the testing to obtain civil liability protection (see Allen v. Dackman 991 A.2d 1216 2010 where a Maryland Court of Appeals held a passive investor of an LLC liable for a child lead poisoning). Many cities have lead paint requirements in their building codes (e.g. Ann Arbor, Grand Rapids and Pontiac) but these regulations are typically poorly worded and generally unenforceable except in the most severe conditions. Testing For Renovation

The EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule require certified Lead Renovators for work disturbing LBP exceeding 6 square feet per interior room or 10 square feet of exterior paint. Pre-1978 paint is assumed to contain lead unless tested. An owner may opt to test for lead since a negative result may save 10-25% of the cost if Lead-Safe practices are not required. Some renovators may be willing to do the testing for you. However, renovator swab testing is more conservative and may result in false positives compared to more accurate testing performed by a professional Lead Inspector. RRP does not apply to renovation not performed for compensation. Therefore, owners of residential property that do the work themselves are exempt from the training requirement. Testing paint using chemical swabs without the EPA Renovator training is being interpreted as non-compliance with the RRP regulation.

Lead Compliance Summary

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“Providing Commercial-Grade Indoor Environmental Testing Services on a Residential Budget”

Enforcement

The fines for RRP non-compliance are $37,500 per day. EPA has authorized nine states to administer their own RRP programs: Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Utah and Wisconsin. Illinois, New Jersey, Ohio have similar rules of their own. EPA has begun regional compliance audits in Western and Northern Michigan in cooperation with the State and it is anticipated that southeast Michigan will be targeted in the future. Abatement

Abatement refers to intentionally taking out lead paint or installing specialized controls. This option involves workers with an advanced level of lead training and is intended for work performed to address severe lead hazards or removal of lead paint for the sole purpose of making something lead free. This work typically must be done by a professional lead abatement firm and is a minimum two-person project with advanced controls. As such, "lead abatement" is too expensive to be a practical option and should not be performed unless there is a substantial financial advantage to removing lead paint from components to make a space lead-free. To avoid conducting lead work illegally as an abatement project, make sure all work is properly scoped out as a housekeeping, maintenance or renovation project. Encapsulation refers to a specialized abatement process and product and requires an EPA license to use. Do not confuse encapsulation with re-painting and avoid using the word encapsulate in your records.

Lead Hazard Control

Where interior dust hazards are present, HEPA vacuuming of carpet or wet-wiping of surfaces should be performed to remove paint and dust in the vicinity of the damage area. A cleaning protocol for lead dust and paint chip hazards can be found at http://www.mich.gov/documents/Lead_Cleaning_Guide_84606_7.pdf. According to Michigan regulations, personnel performing non-abatement lead hazard control work must have successfully completed an 8-hour HUD-approved lead safe work practices training course for such work. If you choose to use your own personnel, they should be properly trained and protected. However, Tri-Tech, serving in the contractual role of Lead Inspector/Risk Assessor, is not required to document training and compliance with regulations pertaining to correction action. However, the following is offered for your information: Training and Certification Requirements

The basic levels of lead regulation compliance and training can be summarized as follows: OSHA Right-to-Know

Under Michigan R 325.51949, cleaning and maintenance workers that do not contact lead paint are required to be provided with Appendix A and B of the OSHA Lead Standard.


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OSHA Lead Awareness

This two-hour class is intended to impart personnel that disturb lead paint and other lead exposure hazards with a basic understanding and respect for lead in the workplace. The basic intent is inform workers when they could potentially be exposed to lead and to prevent them from engaging in activities that pose a lead exposure risk without the proper training, controls and protective equipment (as would be prescribed for Lead Hazard Control or Renovation below). This class must be refreshed annually and is typically $75-100 per person. Lead Hazard Control

This eight-hour class is intended to provide personnel with the basic training to perform lead-safe corrective actions such as lead dust cleaning and "small-scale short-duration" paint repairs (below the 6 square foot interior/10 square foot exterior RRP threshold). The refresher cycle for this training is not specified by the regulations. Some would interpret this as the training is valid forever and some interpret it as up to the employer how often employees should be re-trained. This class is typically $100-150 per person. Lead Renovator

The eight-hour EPA Lead Renovator class and certification covers “lead safe work practices” for large scale renovation, painting and repair actions in compliance with the EPA RRP Rule. Renovations that incidentally address a hazard or remove lead paint may be performed by Lead-certified renovators. Lead Renovator training is typically about $150-200 per person and is good for five years. Lead Supervisor

This option permits untrained/non-certified personnel to do hazard control work if supervised and directed by a Lead Supervisor. The 3-day Supervisor course and associated fees will generally total about $700 to get one person certified. This may be a cost effective option if you have a key maintenance supervisor with at least two years of building experience that supervises a number of maintenance workers and buildings. Lead Abatement Worker/Supervisor (outsourced)

This option involves outsourcing all lead related work to a professional lead abatement firm. While generally more expensive, this option may be appropriate based on the convenience and the ability to quickly address small lead concerns without concerns for compliance or liability. Respiratory Equipment Training

Dry sweeping, dry sanding/scraping, torch cutting, manual demolition and similar aggressive disturbances of lead and paint trigger additional OSHA regulations pertaining to air monitoring and respirator usage and should be avoided. There is no minimum disturbance threshold for these activities so it is up to the employer to what determine what size very small projects may be conducted without respirator usage. Since projects under 2 square feet of paint disturbance are exempt from tenant disclosure, this is probably a reasonable guideline. Employers are required to


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provide respirators for optional/voluntary usage by workers if requested at no cost to the employee. Intact removals and blotting of loose paint with an adhesive material may be considered permissible activities under OSHA regulations since they are not explicitly listed in the list of tasks covered by Lead Regulations. Air Monitoring

It is left up to the employer's judgment whether air monitoring and respiratory protection is required. This regulation makes the questionable assumption that employers will have technical working knowledge of exposure levels associated with various employee lead-related work activities. The following is offered for general guidance to guide the employer's judgment: A half-face respirator is generally considered acceptable protection for manual demolition, scraping and sanding or use of a heat gun, exposure levels of which studies have shown are generally below 500 ug/m3. A half-face respirator provides a tenfold protection factor equating to an 8-hour exposure that would therefore not exceed 50 ug/m3, which is the (maximum)

Permissible Exposure Limit. Assuming a worker performs these activities totally unprotected (no respirator) for one half hour (1/16th of 8 hrs) and has no other lead exposure, their overall exposure equals the OSHA action limit of 30 ug/m3 (500/16=31). Therefore, as a general rule of thumb, similar lead disturbance tasks kept under 30 minutes per day would likely comply with OSHA limits. If there is other incidental lead exposure expected throughout the day, it would be best to limit activities to about 15 minutes. However, this is offered as general guidance and there is no assurance an OSHA inspector would accept these theoretical projections without supporting air data.

Summary

So what can my workers do without any training and personal protection controls? Strictly speaking, almost nothing besides general cleaning that doesn’t disturb lead paint or dust. Wet mopping is prohibited on surfaces that contain lead dust because lead-contaminated mop water is not permitted to be discharged to the sanitary sewer system. Damp-mopping and wiping and HEPA vacuuming is acceptable. As noted above, projects under 2 square feet are exempt from tenant disclosure and therefore it could be asserted that projects disturbing less than 2 square feet of paint are de minimis and therefore exempt from all regulation. Intact component removals and blotting of loose paint with an adhesive material may be considered unregulated activities under OSHA regulations since they are not explicitly listed in the list of tasks covered by Lead Regulations.

lead regulation compliance summary

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