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Why Should Maintenance and Renovation Contractors Attend the 2002 Lead-Safe Indiana Conference on November 6 & 7, 2002?
Disturbing lead-based paint can result in a child's poisoning. While lead poisoning is less common than it the 1960s and 1970s, about 15,000 Hoosier children are lead poisoned each year. Since lead poisoning is entirely preventable, even one child is too many. 15,000 is an embarrassment - especially since it undermines the potential of our future generations.
Unfortunately, many children are not tested for lead. Maintenance or rehab work may very well poison a child but the problem is not known. Fortunately, the emphasis is shifting from finding and helping lead-poisoned children to preventing them from being lead-poisoned in the first place.
To prevent lead poisoning, contractors who do the work must use lead-safe work practices. And when lead-based paint is intentionally being removed to permanently eliminate the hazard a lead abatement practices must be used and only a licensed lead abatement contractor can do the work. While these practices may sound intimidating, they are not. Most of them are common sense - habits that we build into all of our work. Just like a GFCI on a circuit.
Beginning on July 1, 2002, contractors must follow new state laws in homes and child-occupied facilities built before 1960. You must assume paint contains lead unless you have testing results from a licensed risk assessor or inspector showing that it is not. If more than minor amounts of paint is disturbed, you may not dry sand or dry scrape the paint and you must clean up exterior paint debris.
With new regulations in place and HUD and EPA requirements beginning to be enforced, properly dealing with lead may not only be a mandate, it may give you a competitive advantage when working for on government projects or for conscientious property managers.
We think you need to attend the 2002 Lead-Safe Indiana Conference on November 6 & 7,2002 in Indiana. Check out the agenda, we would like to make the following suggestions:
Listen to Dr. Dave Jacobs of HUD give you the latest word on lead poisoning and healthy homes at HUD. Since a plenary session often provides limited ability for detailed questions and discussion, plan to attend a Lead & Healthy Homes at HUD discussion form on Wednesday from 10:30 to 11:45. If you are new to the issue and want to get the big picture of lead poisoning and prevention, go to the Lead Poisoning 101 session instead.
Figure out how to determine when a lead abatement contractor is needed on a HUD-funded project on Wednesday 1:30 to 2:30.
If you want to become a Licensed Lead Abatement Contractor, attend the special workshop on Wednesday from 2:40 to 4:50. The instructors at the Environmental Management Institute will help you fill-out the forms and templates needed to complete the state license application. While it is not easy to do, it can be done thanks to the instructors. You will need to buy from EMI their CD-ROM with all the forms in it for $100.
If you do not want to be a licensed abatement contractor, join in the discussion of ways to get contractors to use lead-safe work practices on Wednesday from 2:40 to 3:40. Your voice needs to be heard. As an alternative, find out about Indiana's new requirements that prohibit contractors from using dangerous work practices and require them to clean up their messes in pre-1960 housing or discuss how the state should deal with concerns about mold.
Wrap up Wednesday by finding out the latest word on new lead-safe work practices and technologies. The session begins at 3:50 and end at 4:50.
Voice your concerns about the enforcement of federal disclosure laws regarding any maintenance work that disturbs more than 2 square feet of interior paint on Thursday from 9:00 to 10:30.
If you work with Spanish speaker workers, plan to attend the HUD-Approved Lead-Safe Work Practices training on Thursday morning from 8:00 to 12:00. The session will be offered in English but the materials will be in Spanish and English and the instructor will be bilingual.
Express your opinions to IDEM to help it improve its licensing regulations to make it less costly to find someone to conduct a HUD clearance examination or to make it easier to become a licensed lead abatement contractor. The session is Thursday from 10:45 to noon.
Nominate your favorite contractor, landlord, property manager, or realtor who has done outstanding work in dealing with lead-based paint for a Lead-Safe Indiana Award. Hopefully your nominee will receive an award on Thursday afternoon.
If you need any more information, contact Tom Neltner at mccabe@ikecoalition.org.
Please join us. Click here to register.
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