The EPA RRP Rule, What it Means to the Contractor

Presented by Don Ebding and Mark Fleming

Of great concern to members of NARI are the legal and insurance ramifications of the EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting Final Rule. As we learned from asbestos, being Certified by the EPA may not be enough to protect yourself and your business.
 
Mr. Don Ebding of Kinker-Eveleigh Insurance Agency graduated from the University of Cincinnati and specializes in contract review, establishing and maintaining large fleet safety programs, OCIP/Construction Wrap Programs, Worker's Comp Programs, and more. Don will bring us up-to-date with the insurance needs and concerns of this new Lead Ruling including what you should be looking for in your policy.

Speaking from the legal issues perspective, Mr. Mark Fleming has over 30 years experience in the construction business. He has been a residential and commercial general contractor and construction manager. He has extensive experience as a litigation consultant, working with his clients to analyze individual dispute situations and provide the objective and technical assessment needed to reach resolution in settlement negotiations, mediation or arbitration. In the event a case proceeds to trial, Fleming has served as an expert witness and is able to support his clients in every phase of the legal process. Mark will educate us in how to protect ourselves concerning the RRP Initiative. 

The breakfast will take place at the Ramada Plaza North, 2301 Wagner Ford Road. Registration and networking begin at 7:30 a.m. Breakfast and the program are from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m. Register today at www.naridayton.org or call (937) 222-6274 and RSVP today! Registration fees are $10 for NARI Certified Professionals, $20 for NARI members or $30 for non-members.

BWC Safety Requirement for Group Rated Employers - REMINDER

By Morgan Zenner

 

By Morgan Zenner 

Marketing strategies are often a guessing game as remodelers don't know what works until they try. But what if there was a way to find out what works before trying?
                                                   
That's what the team at Callahan & Peters Inc., decided as they started evaluating the success of last year's marketing strategy and budgeting for this year's attack. In fact, they decided the best thing to do was go straight to the horse's mouth, former clients, to generate their answers.
 
Please click here for the entire article.

With publication in the Federal Register the Opt-Out provision in the EPA LRRP rule is removed effective July 6, 2010. Below is a summary of the publication in the Federal Register, and directly following a link to the entire rule.

SUMMARY
EPA is finalizing several revisions to the Lead Renovation, Repair, and Painting Program (RRP) rule that published in the Federal Register on April 22, 2008. The RRP rule established accreditation, training, certification, and record keeping requirements as well as work practice standards on persons performing renovations for compensation in most pre-1978 housing and child-occupied facilities. In this document, EPA is eliminating the ``opt-out'' provision that currently exempts a renovation firm from the training and work practice requirements of the rule where the firm obtains a certification from the owner of a residence he or she occupies that no child under age six or pregnant women resides in the home and the home is not a child-occupied facility. EPA is also requiring renovation firms to provide a copy of the records demonstrating compliance with the training and work practice requirements of the RRP rule to the owner and, if different, the occupant of the building being renovated or the operator of the child-occupied facility. In addition, the rule makes minor changes to the certification, accreditation and state authorization requirements. 

This final rule is effective July 6, 2010.

If you would like to read the entire posting, click here to go to the Federal Register. Revised versions of the Renovate Right Booklet are not yet available; it's up to us to inform current customers about this change.  NARI will provide a sign off sheet from the back of the booklet free of charge to those of you who have already purchased the Renovate Right booklets.

We will continue to monitor the EPA and keep you informed of all developments. 

HOMESTAR
The House of Representatives passed HB5019 with minor amendments.  For details here's a link to the bill.

Accredited Contractors will need to be BPI-accredited or accredited by some other future standard the secretary of Energy may approve. All workers performing installation must be certified in the appropriate job skills under BPI, North American Technician Excellence or the Laborers' International Union of North America, or state programs or other programs that may be approved in the future by the Secretary of Energy.

The House bill seems to be very similar to the Senate version, before this goes any further the Senate will need to get their bill out of committee and onto the Senate floor for a vote.  Right now the Senate is occupied with other legislation and we don't see anything coming up to indicate any action on their part.
 
We have had many comments from NARI members "What are we doing..."  The NARI Government Affairs Committee is following all of this legislation carefully for you and will participate in the comments for these new amendments.  Please support our efforts when we issue a CALL TO ACTION.  Please pay attention to the emails we send you and take action when we ask you for assistance.