Last Chance to Comment on Contractor Survey
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is awaiting final approval from the White House to survey general contractors regarding their recent renovation, repair and painting (RRP) activities in public- and private-sector commercial buildings. More data is needed on whether or not RRP activities in buildings expose the public to lead-based paint (LBP) dust. If EPA determines such activities create LBP “hazards,” the agency will write additional rules that will apply to building contractors.
The agency must obtain approval from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) before actually fielding any final survey instruments. EPA announced in the July 30 Federal Register that it has sent the “Information Collection Request” to OMB for review. The agency first sought public comment on the draft ICR late last year, and the July 30 notice provides for an additional 30 days of public comment. The deadline for submitting comments to either EPA or OMB is Aug. 29. AGC and its coalition partners plan to comment.
EPA’s “Survey of the Public and Commercial (P&C) Building Industry” uses separate questionnaires for contractors that perform RRP activities in P&C buildings; lessors and managers of P&C buildings that use their own staff to perform RRP activities; and building owners and occupants of P&C buildings that use their own staff to perform RRP activities. EPA plans to screen nearly 8,500 respondents (using a random sampling method) to reach its goal of completing 402 interviews. Participating in the survey will be voluntary and the EPA contractor administering the survey will offer an incentive of $50 for eligible respondents who complete the full survey.
In detailed comments filed earlier this year, AGC urged EPA not to undertake the survey, arguing the agency needs first to show a hazard before collecting information from the construction, real estate and building maintenance industries on whether their buildings contain lead and how they are maintained. The coalition also pointed out that EPA could gather the same information on the many federally-owned P&C buildings, without the need for White House review or troubling private industry. EPA has pushed back against these arguments, stating, “If, prior to conducting the survey, EPA determines that no lead-based paint hazards are created in P&CBs due to RRP activities, then EPA will not put the survey in the field, irrespective of having an approved ICR,” in its June 28 response to comments document. EPA also says it has sought information about federal buildings but says they represent only part of the universe of P&CBs. The agency has yet to share LBP hazard information with the public that it has reportedly been gathered from Federal building owners and managers (e.g., General Services Administration); it is not included in the record for the rulemaking.
Regarding the building industry’s position that workers are already protected by OSHA rules on lead exposure, EPA says OSHA rules are designed to protect workers but do not necessarily protect the public from all lead hazards resulting from RRP activities in P&CBs.
If EPA receives approval from OMB, its survey will collect information on the different types of RRP activities that disturb lead-based paint in P&CBs, the methods that are used to conduct these activities, the work practices that are used to contain and clean the resulting dust and the characteristics of the buildings where the work is performed. EPA will use this information to estimate the resulting exposures to lead dust, which will inform agency decision-making about the need for and scope of potential regulatory or other actions to reduce exposures to lead dust from RRP activities in P&CBs. If EPA determines that a regulation is needed, the agency will use this data to assess the incremental benefits and costs of potential options to reduce such exposures.
Other Ongoing Efforts
The survey is just one of a variety of other EPA activities to gather information and data to determine whether or not renovation activities in P&C buildings expose the public to lead-based paint dust. Most notably, EPA is still working—
- To convene a Small Business Advocacy Review Panel;
- To gather data about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) construction standard for lead;
- To finalize a “framework” (scenario-specific approach) for determining when RRP activities create adverse health impacts in public and commercial buildings; and
- To identify scientific experts to peer review its technical approach documents that outline the results of the modeled renovation scenarios, including the data sources and incremental health effects associated with any lead exposure.