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EPA OKs 2 Lead Test Kits; RRP Training Tops 400K

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved two lead testing kits and trained 421,000 people as enforcement looms for the new federal lead-safe work rules.

The EPA's Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) has posted preliminary results of the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) assessment of lead test kits on its website at  www.epa.gov/lead/.

The ETV testing was conducted pursuant to the 2008 “Renovation, Repair, and Painting” (RRP) regulation, to determine if any manufacturer-submitted lead test kits meet both a false negative and a false positive response criterion, as required in the rule.

OPPT said it was reporting preliminary results, because of ‘”the status and implications of the ETV…to  renovators, lead test kit manufacturers, and training providers.”

“Based on the preliminary ETV results, no new kits meet both the false negative and false positive criteria,” the agency said in a statement. “Therefore, pursuant to the RRP regulation, EPA will continue to recognize the LeadCheck test kit and the State of Massachusetts lead test kit. “

One more test kit may be recognized before Sept. 1, EPA said.

For more information on the kits or testing, contact Sam Brown at 202-566-0490 (brown.sam@epa.gov)  or Erik Winchester at 202-564-645 (winchester.erik@epa.gov).

Full enforcement of the RRP rules is coming soon. The deadline for certification of firms, originally set for April 22, has been extended to Oct. 1 and appears unlikely to be extended further. Individual renovators have until Sept. 30 to enroll in an EPA-accredited certification class. Certification must be completed by Dec. 31.

As of July 22, EPA had accredited 286 training providers who have conducted more than 18,300 courses, training an estimated 421,000 people, the agency says. The increasing demand for training before the deadline has slowed traffic on EPA’s site, where contractors can search for an EPA-accredited training provider. EPA says it is working to improve the system.

Meanwhile, Massachusetts has joined the list of states that EPA has authorized to administer their own RRP program in lieu of the EPA regulations. Contractors and training providers in these areas should contact the appropriate state office. In addition to Massachusetts, state programs have been approved in Wisconsin, Iowa, North Carolina, Mississippi, Kansas, Rhode Island, Utah, and Oregon.

Comment from Catherine Brooks, (7/29/2010, 10:26 AM)

PWC's tracking and fast reporting on the RPP issues is a rare and expansive way to keep your entire audience informed. With reporting such as this, fewer can fail to respond to the upcoming deadlines.

Comment from Ron Cross, (8/10/2010, 11:13 AM)

I don't know about your area, however here in San Diego there are MANY paint jobs being performed not incorporating "Lead Safe Work Practices". How in the world is this new law going to be enforced??

Comment from Monarcha Marcet, (8/10/2010, 3:21 PM)

Ron, that is exactly the question that I had from first hearing about this...I could have made the EPA over $ 100,000 in a two hour time period by just driving around my neighborhood. As it was, I was just talking to individuals trying to make them aware of the Lead contamination risk and letting them know I could help them with compliance.