What Does It Mean to Be an EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm?

When you’re renovating your home, it’s best to make sure that the company you hire is dedicated not only to improving your home but also to keeping it safe. Common renovation, repair, and painting activities that disturb lead-based paint (like sanding, cutting, replacing windows, and more) can create hazardous lead dust and chips, which can be harmful to adults and children. Home repairs that create even a small amount of lead dust are enough to poison children and put families at risk.

Read on to find out how and why EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firms do everything they can to minimize the risk of danger from lead dust while working on your home.

Why Is Certification Important?

Many of the activities that take place during renovation can disturb lead in your home; even minor renovations like sanding or window replacement could create an unhealthy environment. For this reason, the EPA states that any company or self-employed contractor offering renovation services that could create or disturb toxic lead dust in homes built before 1978—such as plumbers, painters, electricians, and carpenters—must become EPA Lead-Safe Certified.

How Do Companies Obtain Certification?

In order for a company to become EPA Lead-Safe Certified, it must pay a fee and send in an application to the EPA. This application states the following:

• Every Lead-Safe Certified Firm must have at least one Certified Renovator on staff. An employee can earn the Certified Renovator credential by completing an EPA-accredited renovator training course and must attend a refresher course every five years in order to stay certified.
• The company will assign an employee who has earned the Certified Renovator credential to each job.
• The company’s services will be performed only by properly trained workers.
• All work by the company will comply with EPA regulations concerning lead safety.

EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firm status lasts for five years, and contractors must reapply before their current certifications expire to maintain their certification status.

What Does This Mean For Homeowners?

Hiring a Certified Renovation Firm to complete work in your home ensures that the people you’re dealing with are trained professionals who will employ lead-safe work practices while working to keep your home as safe as possible.

In accordance with EPA regulations, a Lead-Safe Certified Firm must distribute EPA’s lead pamphlet to the owner before renovation begins, and the firm must assign their Certified Renovator the task of overseeing the work as well as directing cleanup after the work is done. Firms must also ensure that any other workers involved with the job comply with lead-safe regulations.

Throughout the remodeling process, EPA Lead-Safe Certified Firms help put your mind at ease by doing the best job possible to ensure that your family stays healthy and safe during your home renovation.