Lead Paint Found Outside Pre-1978 Scope, Response

Purpose

The pre-1978 lead-safe removal standard assumes the crew arrived already knowing the job needs it: certifications checked at scheduling, containment on the truck, a certified renovator assigned. This procedure is for the job that did not know that, because the county record shows a 1981 addition permit or the customer said the house was "built in the eighties," and none of that turns out to be the whole story once casing comes off and the paint underneath is clearly older. A crew facing alligatored, many-layered paint with no containment and no certified renovator on the truck is not equipped to keep working, whatever the schedule says.

This procedure guarantees the crew stops the moment the cue appears rather than resolving the ambiguity on site, that any dust already generated that day is treated as a real exposure and contained with whatever is on hand, and that the job does not resume until a certified renovator with the right materials picks it back up.

Scope

Covers any job not originally scoped under the pre-1978 lead-safe removal standard where a crew member, during removal or trim work, observes paint condition, layering or building history inconsistent with the recorded build year, or otherwise has reason to suspect a painted component predates 1978.

Does not cover a job already correctly scoped as pre-1978 target housing, which the lead-safe removal standard owns start to finish. Does not cover abatement, which is a different certification entirely. This procedure exists to get an unscoped job safely stopped and correctly re-scoped, not to complete the removal itself.

Roles and responsibilities

The handoff that fails is the first row skipped in favor of finishing the opening. A crew member who notices the paint "looks old" and keeps prying because the customer is waiting has made a presumption call that was never theirs to make.

Procedure

1. Stop all work at the first cue, before deciding whether it means anything. The moment paint condition, layering, or something the occupant says puts the recorded build year in doubt, set down the tool and step back from the painted surface. Acceptance: no tool in contact with a painted surface anywhere on the job until step 2 is complete. Wrong looks like finishing the current cut "since it's already started." Stop rule: work at this address does not resume today under the crew's existing scope, full stop, regardless of how minor the remaining task looks. No eating, drinking or smoking anywhere near the work area from this point until the area is contained; that is an ingestion route for whatever dust the stopped disturbance already released.

2. Read the cues and default to presuming lead is present rather than resolving the ambiguity on site. Note what triggered the stop: alligatored or heavily built-up paint, a trim profile or glazing method inconsistent with the recorded year, an addition permit that postdates what the occupant describes as the original structure, or a direct statement about the building's actual age. Acceptance: a written presumption note naming the specific cues, dated. Wrong looks like a crew member scraping a deeper layer to "see what's under there," itself further disturbance of a surface not yet under control. Stop rule: an uncertified crew member does not resolve the ambiguity with a test kit on site; that determination is one of the certified renovator's own duties under 40 CFR 745.90, so a test from anyone else does not authorize continuing.

3. Establish whether any dry disturbance already occurred today before the stop. Ask each crew member what was cut, pried, sanded or dry-swept at this opening before work stopped, and name the specific surfaces. Acceptance: a written yes-or-no per surface, with the specific action taken. Wrong looks like "we just got started," offered without checking what that actually covered. Stop rule: any confirmed dry disturbance moves straight to step 4 before anyone leaves the room, because dust already on the floor does not wait for the paperwork to catch up.

4. Contain and clean what has already been disturbed, with whatever is on the truck. Where step 3 finds disturbance, lay plastic under the affected area if not already down, and HEPA-vacuum and wet-wipe visible dust and chips if a HEPA vacuum is on the truck. Acceptance: the immediate area visually free of loose chips and dust film, cleaned wet or by HEPA vacuum only. Wrong looks like a crew member reaching for the shop broom to "get the worst of it," which is a prohibited method under the standard and re-suspends the exact dust it is meant to remove. Stop rule: if no HEPA vacuum or wet-cleaning material is on the truck, do not attempt a dry cleanup at all; cordon the area instead and note in the record that the certified crew will HEPA-clean and cleaning-verify it on the return visit, since an uncertified dry cleanup can spread more than it removes. Hazard: this is the crew's own inhalation and ingestion exposure, not just the occupant's, under 29 CFR 1926.62; whoever runs the HEPA vacuum or wet-wipe wears at minimum a properly fitted N-95 or better and disposable gloves, and does not eat, drink, or touch their face until they have washed up, since this containment step is real work inside a disturbed lead surface, not a quick wipe-down.

5. Secure the opening and cordon the work area before anyone leaves. Cover any opening left more exposed than it was that morning, weathertight, and rope off or otherwise block occupant access to the work area, especially where children live in the house. Acceptance: no daylight or draft at a covered opening's perimeter, and a clear physical barrier at the work area's access point. Wrong looks like a closed door relied on as the only barrier, which a child opens. Stop rule: the crew does not leave the property until both checks pass.

6. Confirm certification and availability with the office before naming a return date. Call the office before leaving and confirm the firm's certification is current and a renovator is available, with the containment materials this job needs, before committing to a return date. Acceptance: a confirmed certified renovator and date, or an honest "we will call you within a day" if neither is confirmed yet. Wrong looks like a crew member promising "we'll be back tomorrow" to end an awkward conversation. Stop rule: no return date is given to the occupant until the office confirms it can actually be met.

7. Deliver the pamphlet and document the occupant's acknowledgment before leaving, even though it is late. Hand an adult occupant the EPA "Renovate Right" pamphlet, or the state-authorized equivalent if this jurisdiction runs one, and get a signed or dated acknowledgment. Acceptance: a pamphlet acknowledgment on file, dated the day of this visit. Wrong looks like skipping it because the information-distribution requirement at 40 CFR 745.84 was supposed to happen before work began and technically did not. Stop rule: document the late delivery plainly rather than back-dating it, and no further work of any kind proceeds at this address on any future date without this acknowledgment on file.

8. Update the job scope and price before the returning crew is dispatched. Revise the job record to reference the pre-1978 lead-safe removal standard for the completion visit, note the disturbance and cleanup already performed, and revise the price to reflect containment and certified-renovator time. Acceptance: an updated scope in the job file that the returning crew reads before arriving, not after. Wrong looks like the next crew showing up expecting to "finish the window" with no idea the job changed category. Stop rule: the return visit does not start until every crew member on it has read the updated scope.

The record this produces

The scope-discovery record, one per incident, filed to the job and carried forward into the completion visit under the lead-safe removal standard.

Fields: the specific cues from step 2, the disturbance-to-date findings and cleanup method from steps 3 and 4, the containment and cordon check from step 5, the certification confirmation and return date from step 6, the pamphlet acknowledgment and its date from step 7, and the revised scope and price.

Who reads them later: the certified renovator on the return visit reads the disturbance and cleanup record as the starting condition, not a clean opening. The office reads the presumption note when scheduling the next job in that neighborhood, since one addition-permit-versus-original-structure surprise on a street usually means the neighboring houses share the same building history. An EPA or state inspector, if one ever asks, reads the pamphlet acknowledgment date against the stop date and sees a documented, corrected gap rather than an undocumented one.

Worked pass: family room window, county record shows a 1981 addition permit

The work order listed the house as a 1981 addition, no lead-safe scope, straight insert replacement, no containment loaded. Removing the interior casing on the family room window, the crew found paint built up in visibly distinct layers well beyond what a four-decade-old window would carry, and the occupant mentioned the window had "come with the farmhouse that used to sit here" before the addition was built around it.

Step 1 stopped the job immediately; the crew member mid-cut on the exterior stop set the pry bar down rather than finishing that one piece.

Step 2 recorded the cues: the layered paint, the occupant's statement about the original farmhouse, and the mismatch between the 1981 addition permit and a window the occupant described as older than the addition itself. The presumption defaulted to positive without a test kit, since no certified renovator was on this crew.

Step 3 found the disturbance already real: the interior casing had come off dry, and a short section of the exterior stop had been pried before the stop, both without wet methods. That is a dry disturbance, so step 4 was not optional.

Step 4 failed on the first option. No HEPA vacuum was on this truck, since the job was not scoped for it. Rather than dry-sweeping to "get the worst of it," which the stop rule forbids, the crew laid the plastic drop cloth already on hand under the disturbed casing, left the debris undisturbed on it, and cordoned the room instead of cleaning it, gloved for the handling that did happen. That is the stop rule taking effect exactly as written.

Step 5 covered the small exterior gap where the stop had been pried, weathertight, and the family room door was blocked with furniture tape and a sign rather than relying on the door alone, since a school-age child lived in the house.

Step 6 reached the office before the crew left. A certified renovator was available two days out with full containment materials, and that date, not "tomorrow," is what the crew gave the occupant.

Step 7 delivered the pamphlet to the occupant on site, with the acknowledgment dated the same day as the stop, noting plainly in the record that this was delivered after work had already begun rather than before, as the rule intends.

Step 8 updated the job to reference the lead-safe removal standard for the return visit, with the disturbance and containment findings attached, so the certified renovator arriving in two days started from a documented condition instead of an unknown room.

References

• 40 CFR 745 Subpart E, the EPA Renovation, Repair and Painting rule: work practices at 745.85, information distribution at 745.84, recordkeeping at 745.86, certification at 745.89 and 745.90. Some states run an EPA-authorized program with equivalent or stricter requirements, and there the state rule is what binds you.
• 29 CFR 1926.62, OSHA Lead in Construction, which attaches to employee exposure at first disturbance independent of the EPA occupant-protection rule.
• EPA "Renovate Right" pamphlet, current edition, or the state-equivalent where a state-authorized program applies.
• See related: the pre-1978 lead-safe removal standard, which this procedure hands off to for the completion visit and which owns full containment, wet-removal method and cleaning verification; the opening preparation and rot assessment procedure, for what resumes once the lead determination is settled.