1. asbestos·lead paint·mold
Tri-Tech Building Hygiene Services
23841 Republic
Oak Park, Michigan 48237
Freelance.enviro.tech@gmail.com
248.721.8574
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.
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2. Lead Compliance Summary
August 26, 2011
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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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3. Lead Compliance Summary
August 26, 2011
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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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4. Lead Compliance Summary
August 26, 2011
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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.
“Providing Commercial-Grade Indoor Environmental Testing Services on a Residential Budget”