Yesterday, we presented an outline of the work practices that contractors need to follow to meet EPA lead abatement requirements. Today, we look at the lead abatement certification that all contractors who perform renovation work on pre-1978 homes, child care facilities and schools will be required to have by 2010.
All training certification courses must be accredited by the EPA. Nationwide, accredited training programs are often overseen by each state. In California, the California Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention branch of the California Department of Health Services is one source of an EPA accredited lead abatement training program.
Training and certification programs may be divided into levels of certification, which usually govern the lead abatement tasks that can be performed. In the state of California, Title 17 regulations recognize five different levels of certification:
§ Worker
§ Supervisor
§ Project Monitor
§ Project Designer
§ Inspector/Assessor
Professionals with worker or supervisor certification are qualified to perform lead abatement work. Project designers, monitors and supervisors can prepare lead abatement plans. Only inspectors can perform lead hazard evaluations and only inspectors and project monitors can perform clearance inspections.
Tomorrow, we will continue examining lead abatement certification with a look at the definitions of the various lead abatement activities, as well as the prerequisites for achieving certification for each of these activities.
