National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
October 22-28, 2017 is National Lead Poisoning Prevention Week.
Federal, state, and local agencies and community organizations conduct various public outreach events during Lead Poisoning Prevention Week to:
- Raise awareness about lead poisoning
- Urge people to take steps to reduce lead exposure
- Highlight efforts to prevent childhood lead poisoning
- Stress the importance of screening the highest risk children younger than 6 years of age (preferably by ages 1 and 2)
Lead hazards in housing
Lead-based paint is the most common source of lead poisoning in the home. When lead-based paint deteriorates from age or from painted surfaces not being properly maintained, it wears down into flakes, chips, and dust. The lead dust mixes with household dust which can contaminate household objects. Children can become lead poisoned by ingesting lead dust or playing in contaminated soil. Renovation or maintenance work that disturbs a lead-based painted surface can also create lead dust hazards.
The Lead Disclosure Rule
Congress passed the Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992, also known as Title X, to protect families from exposure to lead from paint, dust, and soil. Section 1018 of this law directed HUD and EPA to require the disclosure of known information on lead-based paint and lead-based paint hazards before the sale or lease of most housing built before 1978.
Most private housing, public housing, federally owned housing, and housing receiving federal assistance are affected by this rule.
Landlords and Property Managers
Landlords and property managers play an important role in protecting the health of tenants and their children. Buildings built before 1978 are much more likely to contain lead-based paint. Federal law requires landlords and property managers to provide certain important information about lead paint before a tenant signs a lease.
Landlords and property managers must:
- Give an EPA-approved information pamphlet on identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards (“Protect Your Family From Lead In Your Home”).
- Disclose any known information concerning lead-based paint or lead-based paint hazards. A landlord must also disclose information such as the location of the lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards, and the condition of the painted surfaces.
- Provide any records and reports on lead-based paint and/or lead-based paint hazards which are available to the landlord. For multi-units buildings, this requirement includes records and reports concerning common areas and other units, when such information was obtained as a result of a building wide evaluation.
- Include an attachment to the lease agreement or insert in the lease agreement itself a Lead Warning Statement and confirm that the landlord has complied with all notification requirements. The attachment is to be provided in the same language used in the rest of the lease agreement.
Landlords and tenants must sign and date the attachment to the lease agreement. Landlords must retain a copy of the disclosures for no less than three years from the date the leasing period begins.
Renovation and Maintenance
Many new cases of childhood lead poisonings are diagnosed each year. Research shows that many of the new cases can be directly linked to renovations where the work environment was not properly contained allowing lead to enter the body from inhaling or ingesting microscopic dust.
EPA regulations mandate that any contractor or maintenance staff, including specialty trades such as plumbers, electricians and painters, who disturbs more than six square feet of painted surfaces in a room for interior projects or more than twenty square feet of painted surfaces for exterior projects, replaces windows, or does demolition in housing, child care facilities and schools built before 1978 must be Lead-Safe Certified and trained in lead-safe work practices. These regulations are the standard of care for the industry.
The Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP) requires that renovators are trained in the use of lead safe work practices, that renovators and firms be certified, that providers of renovation training be accredited, and that renovators follow specific work practice standards.
If a rental property manager or his employees conduct renovation, repair, or painting activities in a pre-1978 residential building then the RRP requires that the property manager/firm become a lead-safe certified firm. However if the surface to be painted is not disturbed by sanding, scraping, or other activities that may cause dust, the work is not considered renovation and EPA’s lead program requirements do not apply. Painting projects that involve surface preparation that disturbs paint, such as sanding and scraping, would be covered by EPA requirements. If the work is hired out, only a lead-safe certified firm for building maintenance, repair, or painting could perform work that disturbs lead-based paint.
The RRP also requires that certain actions be taken to protect tenants. In housing built before 1978, the contractor must:
- Distribute EPA’s lead pamphlet to the owner and occupants before renovation starts.
- In a child-occupied facility, the lead pamphlet must be distributed to the owner of the building or an adult representative of the child-occupied facility before the renovation starts.
If the renovation is to be performed in common areas of multi-family housing, the contractor must:
- Either distribute renovation notices to tenants or post informational signs about the renovation or repair job. Informational signs must:
- Be posted where they will be seen;
- Describe the nature, locations, and dates of the renovation;
- Be accompanied by the lead pamphlet or by information on how parents and guardians can get a free copy;
- Obtain confirmation of receipt of the lead pamphlet from the owner, adult representative, or occupants (as applicable), or a certificate of mailing from the post office.
- Retain records for documentation of compliance for three years following completion of a renovation.
Emergency Provision of the RRP Rule
The following information is excerpted from the EPA website regarding RRP emergency provisions.
To ensure that property owners and occupants are able to act quickly to preserve their homes and property in the wake of disasters, the RRP rule includes an emergency provision exempting firms from certain requirements. Emergency renovations are defined as renovation activities that were not planned but result from a sudden, unexpected event that, if not immediately attended to, present a safety or public health hazard, or threaten equipment and/or property with significant damage.
Under the emergency provision of the RRP rule, contractors performing activities that are immediately necessary to protect personal property and public health need not be RRP trained or certified and are exempt from the following RRP rule requirements: information distribution, posting warning signs at the renovation site, containment of dust, and waste handling. Firms are NOT exempt from the RRP rule’s requirements related to cleaning, cleaning verification, and recordkeeping. Further, the exemption applies only to the extent necessary to respond to the emergency. Once the portion of the renovation that addresses the source of the emergency is completed, the remaining activities are subject to all requirements of the RRP rule.
Landlords and property managers should conduct due diligence to determine applicability of the emergency provisions of the Rule to their particular circumstances such as recent regional hurricane disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts.
State Statutes
The majority of states and many local jurisdictions have lead-based hazard programs with standards and procedures that may be more stringent than federal rules and regulations on lead-based hazards. Federal, state, and local programs have common goals that establish standards for the regulation of lead-based paint hazard activities, training and certification of workers engaged in such activities, and accreditation of lead-based paint hazard training programs.
Many states and local jurisdictions have programs and services established under departments of Health Services to prevent, detect and treat lead-based paint poisoning.
There may be additional state or local requirements or emergency relief regarding repair of pre-1978 properties damaged during the recent natural disasters. Landlords and property managers should consult with state agencies or appropriate certified agencies to determine compliance with state regulations.