Lead — EPA Residential Requirements

EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting rule, or RRP, protects occupants and the public from lead-based paint dust created by renovation. It generally applies to renovation performed for compensation in target housing and child-occupied facilities built before 1978. Contractors, sole proprietors, rental-property maintenance operations and other covered firms must evaluate their work before advertising or starting it.

Target housing generally means pre-1978 housing, with defined exceptions for housing for elderly people or people with disabilities and zero-bedroom dwellings unless a child under six resides or is expected to reside there. Do not use an outdated blanket zero-bedroom exemption. Absence of a child in an ordinary pre-1978 house does not create an owner opt-out.

A child-occupied facility is a pre-1978 building or portion regularly visited by the same child under six on at least two days in a week, for at least three hours each day, six hours per week and sixty hours per year. It can be in a public or commercial building. Evaluate the defined child-used common areas and adjacent exterior surfaces; not every commercial building is automatically covered.

Determine whether EPA or an EPA-authorized state or Tribal program administers the work location. Certification and additional requirements must be checked for that jurisdiction. HUD-assisted housing and state or local rules may add protection beyond federal RRP. Record the actual address, building age, use, work and program before deciding an exception applies.

This is requirements-awareness training, not an EPA-accredited initial or refresher course. It does not certify a renovator, dust-sampling technician, inspector, risk assessor, abatement worker or firm. OSHA worker protection remains a separate obligation; the companion OSHA Lead tracks address it.