Post and Courier
March 29, 2010

Contractors cope with new lead rules
by Robert Behre

Next month, a new set of rules will take effect designed to protect homeowners and others from lead dust stirred up during home remodeling.

 

But Charleston-area contractors say the rules also will make a lot of renovation work more costly, particularly since the Lowcountry has so many older homes with old paint that contains lead.

 

Contractors such as Chuck Bennett also fear the public doesn't know enough about what's going on.

 

"My fear is they're going to think it's something bogus that Chuck Bennett trumped up for extra work," he said.

Bennett already has spent about $1,000 to train and certify his firm and train three of its employees.

 

The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules apply to contractors, including subcontractors, who work on housing, child care facilities or schools built before 1978. They're required to get new training in lead-safework practices that will reduce exposure.

 

Lead exposure, particularly among children, has been considered a public health menace. The concern has been acute in Charleston because of its relatively high number of older homes containing at least some lead paint.

 

Rob Crawford of Renaissance South Construction Co. said most contractors already protect against dust anyway, "but this is just taking it to a whole new level."

 

The rule applies whenever at least 6 square feet of interior space or at least 20 square feet of exterior space are affected. The fine is an attention-getting $32,000 per offense.

 

Phillip Ford, executive vice president of the Charleston Trident Home Builders Association, said he has talked to contractors who won't work on the older homes so they don't have to worry about the rules.

 

Crawford said the rules could double the cost of some smaller jobs, but the relative added expense for larger jobs would be less noticeable.

 

Lowcountry contractors have been scrambling to become certified before the rules take effect April 22. Yvonne Noisette of Trident Technical College, which offers the certification course locally, said, "Within the past two weeks, we've just been flooded. The phone has been ringing off the hook about this."

 

Ford said the key question is what happens if some contractors don't meet the deadline.

 

"That's my beef with it, besides more government regulation. We just haven't had time to get the word out there and get people certified," he said. "We're talking about training potentially thousands of employees and owners."

 

Bennett is worried that the Environmental Protection Agency, which will enforce the new rules, will try to make an example out of someone in Charleston because lead has been a problem here historically.

 

Ford said contractors fear losing business if they choose not to work on older homes or losing work to non-certified contractors willing to risk not getting caught.

 

The new rules come as South Carolina's lead efforts have faded.

 

The state's lead program largely ended after a grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ran out in 2005, said Thom Berry, media relations director for the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

 

While DHEC no longer performs on-site investigations in places where lead could be found, it will check into cases where a physician notifies the agency after a child is found with an elevated level of lead in his or her blood.

 

The state tried to get a federal grant for lead-poisoning prevention work after 2005, but the rate of children with lead poisoning was not high enough to qualify, Berry said.