New Renovation, Repair, and Painting Rule: Applicable to Contractors Near You April 2010

Lead poisoning remains a problem to this day. In 2003, 12,000 children in Illinois were lead poisoned (10 ug/dl+). Today, about 15% of kids [Source: Chicago Department of Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention] are lead poisoned due to some sort of renovation or remodeling.

Illinois is high on the list for percentage of children exposed to lead, and Chicago is #1 in the country for number of children lead poisoned annually.

Because of this, then-Senator Obama really championed better protections for children against lead poisoning. One of those things was the RRP rule. “To protect against this risk, on April 22, 2008, EPA issued a rule requiring the use of lead-safe practices and other actions aimed at preventing lead poisoning. Under the rule, beginning in April 2010, contractors performing renovation, repair and painting projects that disturb lead-based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools built before 1978 must be certified and must follow specific work practices to prevent lead contamination.”

This means that by April 2010, contractors doing work in pre-1978 buildings [ie: remodelling the kitchen in your 1963 split level in Anywhere, USA] will have to have at a minimum, the supervisor on site to have taken & passed an 8 hour training course on lead safe work practices. The fines will be quite high for those who choose to disregard this rule, so you can bet that by March, contractors will be rushing to get this course done if they want to continue to be able to work in pre-1978 homes [about 70% of Chicago’s housing stock]. Find a local training provider here.

For those of you who are not contractors but still like do-it-yourself projects, I’d recommend at least learning the basics. Why? Because a sugar packet’s worth of lead contaminated dust, spread over1/4th of a football field, is enough to lead poison a toddler. The videos below can show you the precautions you need to take.