Lead Paint Issues for Renovators
This page is the gateway to information about the new pre-renovation regulations (effective June 1 1999) and other issues relating to your business. From here you can find:
- The full text of the regulation. Click to select:
- EPA interpretations
- A checklist to guide you through all of the "if-then-else" steps
- An all-purpose form for documenting the owner and tenant notifications
- A work order form to order an inspection by fax. (Southeast Michigan and Toledo areas only)
It's important to recognize that the new regulations are only a paperwork exercise. You give a pamphlet, get a signed receipt, and save the records for three years. There's nothing in these regulations that requires you to do anything else. However, all this fuss will heighten awareness all around:
- What will you do if the homeowner actually reads the stuff you give out? Read the Tough Questions that you'd better be able to answer.
- Are you following the OSHA regulations on worker protection? They've been around for six years. Your employees are bound to wonder what they should be doing to protect themselves and their own families. Check out the Worker Protection regulations.
Here are some major traps and pitfalls you had better consider now that lead paint is being made a major issue:
- Review your contract forms. Lead paint should be treated as a "hidden condition" the same way as asbestos or termites. The discovery of lead in paint should trigger a change order and additional charges to compensate you for the extra costs you will incur to protect your workers, their famillies, and your client.
- Review your liability insurance. There may be a "pollution exclusion" clause that leaves you unprotected from a charge that you are the one who lead-poisoned a client's child.
- Do not, under any circumstances, conduct tests of paint or dust yourself. Your findings are easily challenged in court, because you have a vested interest and (very likely) inadequate training in lead testing. Further, most states require that only a licensed inspector can conduct lead testing for commercial purposes. Finally (if all that's not enough) you don't have Errors and Omissions insurance, so any mistake could mean the end of your business.