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Issue@Hand
Dust Thou Art
You might think it’s a bit of overkill, but in my spare time I love to
… read … magazines. So it was with robust gusto that I actually used two
hours this weekend to catch up on reading from the major stack of consumer
magazines (as opposed to this one which is a business-to-business [B2B]
magazine) sitting next to my chair in the den. I also have a major stack
on the porch outside, another next to my bed and even one in my car trunk.
My mailman once told me that I get more magazines than any other person
to whom he has delivered mail in his 30 odd years of service, which is
why I was looking at Thanksgiving turkey recipes in?Country Living on
the day the outdoor temp hit 105 degrees Fahrenheit. I didn’t miss much;
none were too memorable.
What was memorable was the small item I?saw in the late-fall issue of
This Old House magazine. It mentioned the upcoming Lead Paint Renovation,
Repair and Painting (RRP)?program and dutifully reported that the EPA?estimated
that the RRP would add approximately “$100 per job” to the cost of doing
work. Sure I’d read that wrong, I went back and, by golly, that’s exactly
what it said—$100 per job, not even per window, though the article did
allow that many contractors were saying it would cost a lot more. In fact,
today, the number most commonly mentioned is $150 a window, quite a difference
from the $100 a job the EPA?originally estimated.
Now, if by now you are silently screaming, “No, not another lead paint
article, I can’t take it any more and it doesn’t apply to me anyway,”
then I ask you to consider the following:
1. The law may apply to your company. It applies to any job in
residences built before 1978, handled by a professional renovator, in
which paint is disturbed. So if you are doing hack-outs on pre-1978 buildings
and you are not disturbing more than six square feet on an interior job
and not more than 20 square feet on an exterior job, then the regulations
do not apply. But otherwise they do, and the fines are steep.
2. EPA?wants to expand the program. Just this first week of July,
the EPA provided notice that it plans to create a similar program for
renovators of commercial buildings.
3. We ain’t seen nothing yet. Our sources tell us that the ultimate
goal of the regulations will be to require independent inspectors to come
in and verify that the work was done correctly and that no lead dust is
in the area. I can’t imagine the cost of setting up mini-hazardous locations
on commercial retrofit sites.
Is it any wonder that at least one fenestration association has filed
a lawsuit against EPA?for rescinding its “opt-out” exception for homes
in which children under six or pregnant women are not present?
Exposure to lead paint is an insidious problem and great public health
concern.?One expert to whom?I recently spoke related the increased incidence
of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)? and use of drugs such as Ritalin
as a move to counter the effects of lead paint exposure. It’s serious.
But however well-intentioned, the new program has a number of holes that
need to be plugged in order to be effective. But don’t ignore them, they
are not going away.?
P.S. We have tons of info available on the regulations; if you
need it, just drop me a line at deb@glass.com.
Deb
USG
© Copyright 2010 Key Communications Inc. All rights reserved.
No reproduction of any type without expressed written permission.
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