A home sustained flooding as a result of a hurricane. Once the flood water recedes, my firm must make the necessary renovations. How do the record keeping requirements apply to an emergency renovation? 

Emergency renovations (other than interim controls performed in response to a child with an elevated blood lead level) are exempt from the training, certification, sign posting, waste handling and containment requirements of the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule only to the extent necessary to respond to the emergency. Firms must nonetheless comply with the cleaning requirements (performed by certified renovators and trained workers), cleaning verification (performed by certified renovators) and record keeping requirements of the RRP Rule.

The RRP Rule’s record keeping provision recognizes that records kept for an emergency renovation may very well differ from a more typical renovation.  Specifically, if the renovation firm was unable to comply with all of the requirements of the RRP Rule due to an emergency, the firm must document the nature of the emergency and the provisions of the rule that were not followed, in addition to the other rule provisions that must be documented for an emergency renovation. For example, if the firm did not post warning signs or remove or cover all objects in the work area, it should clearly state in its records that these activities were not followed due to the emergency. With regard to the record keeping checklist, the firm should leave unchecked each task that was not performed due to the emergency. The documentation of the nature of the emergency and the work practices that were not followed may be written as a notation on the checklist, for example, or otherwise recorded (e.g., by attaching it to the checklist). 

Although the emergency provision exempts certain RRP work practices, firms should perform as many of these lead-safe work practices as possible when conducting activities that must be immediately undertaken to respond to the emergency.  For example, if the firm can contain the work area and still address the emergency, it should do so. Once the urgent safety and public health hazards and threats of significant property damage have been attended to (e.g., when the wet drywall is removed in the above scenario) the emergency provision can no longer be utilized and any additional renovation activities would be subject to all the requirements of the RRP Rule.

Question Number: 23003-37000

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