Contractors
Lead Safety Dur ng
Renovations
United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C. 20460
EPA-740-F-002
May 2017
Visual inspection for exterior renovations:
A certified renovator must perform a visual inspection
to determine whether dust, debris or residue is still
present on surfaces in and below the work area,
including windowsills and the ground. If dust, debris or
residue is present, these conditions must be eliminated
and another visual inspection must be performed.
When the area passes the visual inspection, remove
the warning signs. Dust clearance testing (performed
by certified lead professional) is an alternative to
cleaning verification to determine if the work area is
ready for re-occupancy.
These simple practices ensure that your jobs are
better, cleaner, and safer. Your customers will notice
the difference.
Lead-Safety Shopping List
•	EPA's pamphlet, "Renovate Right: Important
Lead Hazard Information for Families,
Child Care Providers and Schools."
(Download it on our website at epa.gov/lead.)
•	Barriers and signs
•	Tape
•	Stapler
•	Heavy plastic sheeting
•	Utility knife or scissors
•	Heavy-duty plastic bags
•	HEPA vacuum cleaner
•	Paper towels or disposable wipes
•	Mop and disposable mop heads
•	General-purpose cleaner
•	Buckets
•	Shovel and rake
To learn more about working safely
with lead, contact the National Lead
Information Center at
1-800-424-LEAD (5323)
Or visit EPA's website at epa.gov/lead
*>EPA

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As a contractor, you play an important role in protecting public health by helping to
prevent lead exposure. Ordinary renovation and maintenance activities can create dust
that contains lead—even small amounts of lead can harm children and adults.
Rules for Contractors
Federal law requires that contractors performing
renovation, repair or painting work that disturbs lead-
based paint in homes, child care facilities, and schools
buiit before 1978 follow special requirements:
•	Firms must be lead-safe certified.
•	Employees must be trained (either as a certified
renovator or on-the-job by a certified renovator) in
the use of lead-safe work practices.
•	Workers must use lead-safe work practices that
minimize occupants' exposure to lead hazards.
Talk to the Residents
When working in homes, child care facilities and schools
built before 1978, you must:
•	Provide EPA's pamphlet, "Renovate Right: Important
Lead Hazard Information for Families, Child Care
Providers and Schools" to residents or the facility
operator before the job begins.
(Download at epa.gov/lead).
•	You must also provide information to families whose
children attend the child care facility or schoo .
•	Post signs clearly defining the work area and
warning occupants and others not Involved in the
renovation to stay outside of the work area.
The work area must be contained so that no dust or
debris leaves the work area.
What to Do When Working on Interior Jobs
•	Remove furniture and belongings, or cover them
securely with heavy plastic sheeting with all seams
sealed.
•	Close and cover all ducts in the work area with
taped down plastic sheeting.
•	Close windows and doors in the work area.
•	Cover doors with plastic sheeting unless used as a
work area entrance. If used as an entrance the door
must be covered with plastic sheeting in a manner
that allows workers to pass through while confining
dust and debris to the work area
•	Use plastic sheeting to cover floors, including installed
carpet, a minimum of 6 feet beyond the perimeter of
the surfaces being renovated or a sufficient distance to
contain dust, whichever is greater.
•	Use precautions to ensure that all personnel, tools and
other items are free of dust and debris before leaving
the work area.
What to Do When Working on Exterior Jobs
•	Close all doors and windows within 20 feet of the
renovation. On multi-story buildings, also close doors
and windows below the renovation.
•	Ensure doors within the work area that are to be used
are covered with plastic sheeting in a manner that
allows workers to pass while confining dust and debris
to the work area.
•	Cover the ground with plastic sheeting 10 feet beyond
the perimeter of the renovation or a sufficient distance
to collect falling paint debris, whichever is greater.
•	If the renovation affects surfaces within 10 feet of a
property line, erect vertical containment to ensure dust
and debris doesn't leave the work area. Vertical
containment may also be necessary in other situations.
Do Not Use These Dangerous and Prohibited
Practices When Working with Lead-Based Paint
•	Open flame burning or torching.
•	Sanding, grinding, planning, needle gunning, or
blasting with power tools unless they have a shroud
or containment system and are equipped with a HEPA
vacuum attachment. Machines must be operated
so that no dust is visible outside the shroud or
containment system.
•	Using a heat gun at temperatures greater than 1100°F.
Waste
•	Waste from renovation activities must be contained to
prevent releases of dust and debris before the waste is
removed from the work area for storage or disposal.
•	At the end of each work day and at the end of the
renovation, collected waste must be stored so that it
prevents release of dust and debris.
•	When the firm transports waste from renovation
activities, the firm must contain the waste to prevent
release of dust and debris.
Leave the Work Area Clean
When the job is complete, you must:
•	Collect all paint chips and debris, and seai this
material in a heavy-duty bag. Dispose of the bag
as waste.
•	Remove the protective sheeting. Mist the sheeting
before folding it, fold the dirty side inward, and
either tape shut to seal or seal in heavy-duty bags,
Sheeting used to isolate rooms must remain in
place until after removal of other sheeting. Dispose
of the sheeting as waste.
Additional cleaning for interior renovations:
Clean all objects and surfaces in the work area and
within 2 feet of the work area in the following manner,
cleaning from higher to lower:
•	Clean walls either vacuuming with a HEPA vacuum
or wiping with a damp cloth.
•	Thoroughly vacuum all remaining surfaces and
objects in the work area, with a HEPA vacuum. The
HEPA vacuum must be equipped with a beater bar
when vacuuming carpets and rugs.
•	Wipe all remaining surfaces and objects in the work
area, except for carpeted or upholstered surfaces,
with a damp cloth. Mop uncarpeted floors thoroughly.
•	A certified renovator must perform a visual
inspection to determine whether dust, debris or
residue is still present, if dust, debris or residue
is present, these conditions must be removed by
re-cleaning and another visual inspection must
be performed.
•	Perform a final clean-up check. Use disposable
cleaning cloths to wipe floors, counter tops and
windowsills in the work area and compare them to
a cleaning verification card to determine if the work
area was adequately cleaned.
•	When the work area passes the post-renovation
cleaning verification, remove the warning signs.
•	To order a cleaning verification card and detailed
instructions, visit our website at www.epa.gov/lead
or contact the National Lead Information Center at
1-800-424-LEAD (5323).

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