More care required around lead paint

April 22, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

Contractors across the country must take additional precautions when renovating houses where children could be exposed to lead dust from old paint, a safety measure that could add thousands of dollars to projects just as the remodeling industry tries to recover from the recession.

A federal rule that takes effect today forces contractors to use “lead-safe” practices when working on homes, day-care centers and schools built before 1978, the year lead paint was banned for residential use because of health risks. Many contractors complain that the government has not provided enough trainers to help them meet the deadline and want it extended.

“The country is not ready for this,” said Donna Shirey, president of Shirey Contracting in Issaquah, Wash., and the chairwoman of a remodelers council for the National Association of Home Builders.

About 800 NAHB members were in Washington for the group’s spring meeting and many were making an eleventh-hour attempt to lobby lawmakers for a delay for the rule.

The Environmental Protection Agency issued the lead-paint rule in 2008 because more than a million American children a year are at risk of being poisoned by lead-based paint in their homes, leading to learning disorders and behavioral problems, EPA spokesman Dale Kemery said. Two years was adequate time to prepare and the agency is sticking to its timetable, Kemery said.