Painting insurance for every coat.

EPA's lead rule on pre-1978 jobs

The federal Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule, 40 CFR 745 Subpart E, applies to renovations performed for compensation in target housing and child-occupied facilities. Target housing is housing built before 1978, except housing for the elderly or persons with disabilities and 0-bedroom dwellings, unless a child under 6 lives or is expected to live there. A child-occupied facility is a pre-1978 building, or part of one, visited regularly by the same child under 6 (at least two days a week, 3 hours a visit, 6 hours a week and 60 hours a year), such as a day care, preschool or kindergarten classroom. What the rule requires:

• Firm and person. The firm must be EPA-certified, and a certified renovator must be assigned to each renovation. Everyone else doing renovation work for the firm must be a certified renovator or trained by one. EPA says this includes sole proprietorships.
• Minor repair line. Work that disturbs 6 square feet or less of painted surface per room inside, or 20 square feet or less outside, is not a renovation under the rule, unless it involves window replacement, demolition of painted surfaces or a prohibited practice. Jobs in the same room within 30 days count as one job.
• Prohibited practices. No open-flame burning or torching of painted surfaces. No high-speed sanding, grinding or blasting unless the machine has a shroud or containment system and a HEPA vacuum attachment. Heat guns only below 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Paperwork. Give the owner EPA's Renovate Right pamphlet no more than 60 days before work starts, and keep compliance records for 3 years after the renovation is done.

The rule does not apply where the affected components have been tested and found lead-free in one of the ways section 745.82(a) allows. California is not on EPA's list of states authorized to run their own RRP program, so EPA certifies firms working here. EPA notes that if you work in more than one state, you may need both EPA and state certification.

Cal/OSHA's lead standard, section 1532.1

Title 8, section 1532.1 covers all construction work where an employee may be exposed to lead, and it defines construction to include painting and decorating. Under the current text (amendments filed April 8, 2024, effective January 1, 2025), the action level is 2 micrograms per cubic meter of air and the permissible exposure limit is 10, both as 8-hour time-weighted averages. For abrasive blasting the limit is 25 until January 1, 2030. Every covered employer must first determine whether any employee may be exposed at or above the action level.

Until an exposure assessment is done, the employer must treat workers on these trigger tasks, where lead paint is present, as exposed above set levels and provide interim protection such as respirators and protective clothing:

• Level 1: manual scraping, heat gun use, manual demolition such as drywall.
• Level 2: manual sanding, power-tool cleaning, grinding or sanding with dust collection, and spray painting with lead paint.
• Level 3: power-tool work without dust collection, abrasive blasting, torch burning.

Subsection (l)(3) requires CDPH certification for employees and supervisors in lead-related construction work who "have been shown to be exposed to lead at or above 50 µg/m3 as an 8-hour TWA." CDPH's page still calls 50 the PEL; under DIR's current text, 50 is this certification trigger and the PEL is 10. When I submit workers' comp for a painter, I list which of these tasks the crew does and whether exposure assessments are on file.