If you perform routine maintenance on homes or apartments built before 1978, you need to plan and safely carry out the work following EPA guidelines for lead-safe work practices while minimizing the disturbance of lead-based paint. Protect yourself, your coworkers, your own family, and the lives of those living in the places where you are doing any kind of work, from the devastating effects of lead paint poisoning by becoming more informed and following lead-safe work practices.
Take a free EPA Certified Lead Safe Work Practices class offered by the City of Rochester and Monroe County.
As of June 1, 1999, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established the Pre-Renovation Education Rule (PRE) and requires that Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home (English) or Proteja a Su Familia en Contra del Plomo en Su Casa (Spanish) be distributed to residents of pre-1978 housing before they begin any renovation or remodeling activities. The PRE requires written acknowledgement from the client that he or she has received the pamphlet. Alternatively, the contractor can send the pamphlet by certified mail. Contractors should keep this documentation in their files.
Copies of "Protect Your Family from Lead in Your Home" in Vietnamese, Russian, Arabic, and Somali can be downloaded at http://www.epa.gov/lead/pubs/leadprot.htm
“Lead-Based Paint Pre-Renovation Education Rule: A handbook for contractors, property managers, and maintenance personnel” explains the rules and regulations of the PRE in detail.