Lead paint certification refers to the EPA’s recognition of your due diligence as a green professional in learning how to conduct safe renovations in environments that contain lead based paint. As part of its effort to curb the public health threat of lead exposure, especially in children occupying buildings constructed prior to 1978, the EPA has enacted detailed legislation that regulates activities that can cause lead based paint to chip off and wind up in the hands of young children, who often consume lead paint chips unknowingly because they taste sweet. Renovators who work around lead based paint can also learn how to contain their working areas to reduce migrating paint chips and in turn lower their risk of self-induced lead based paint exposure.
Lead paint certification training comprises of an online training component which lasts around 8 hours and an interactive field training portion which takes students into the real world to apply their classroom knowledge to real-world lead renovation scenarios. While the EPA has made lead paint certification mandatory for building professionals, there are still some skeptics who will continue to work without completing a lead training course. The EPA has defined extremely expensive fines for anyone who violates the lead RRP rule, so you could find yourself in serious debt for replacing a light switch in a home built in 1970 without having first obtained your EPA certification. The best way to avoid EPA fines for violating the lead RRP rule is to sign up for a lead training course and then take the lead certification exam.
Your lead paint certification is crucial to your livelihood as a renovator. Only lead certified renovators can legally provide services in pre-1978 buildings, so if you have not yet obtained your lead certificate, now is the time to do so.
