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Proudly Serving America Through The Nation's Heartland This section is dedicated to providing information of current interest to a variety of persons. Check back with this section regularly and be sure to click your refresh button to insure that you get the most current page. WE ACCEPT CREDIT CARDS FOR PAYMENT! We will accept the following for payment options: Visa MasterCard NOTE: Effective April 1, 2009, an additional 10% convenience fee will be applied to all credit card payments. KDHE HUD Grant The Kansas Department of Health & Environment (KDHE): Kansas Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program (KHHLHPP) is committed to the creation of resources, programs, and policies to prevent childhood lead poisoning and home-based environmental health hazards. For this reason, the Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program applied for a Lead Hazard Control grant through the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to assist communities with identifying lead hazards in the home. The Kansas Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program received $3.1 million in Federal Funds to assist in the creation of new resources, programs, and policies to address environmental and lead poisoning hazards in surrounding counties throughout the state of Kansas. Please visit the Kansas Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Prevention Program site at http://www.kshealthyhomes.org/wichita_hud_grant.htm for more program information.PROFESSIONAL TRAINING Baker Environmental Consulting, Inc. (BEC), a small business enterprise with real-world hands-on experience, knowledge and expertise gained from being involved in the environmental industry since 1976, is pleased to announce that we have been certified and accredited by the States of Kansas & Missouri to provide EPA Model Curriculum training for all persons involved in all lead-based paint (LBP) related work activities. The classes which we provided include the initial and refresher classes for the following lead activity disciplines:
BEC has been approved by the Kansas Workforce Partnership to provide professional training to persons living in Johnson County, Leavenworth County and Wyandotte County who are under-employed or unemployed, in an effort to make those persons better able to obtain gainful employment. Persons living in those Kansas counties who are intersted in obtaining funding to receive professional training from BEC should contact the Kansas Workforce Partnership program nearest them. In Johnson County, the Kansas Workforce Partnership program office is located at: 9221 Quivira Road in Overland Park, KS 66215. Their telephone number is: (913) 642-7260. The web address for the Kansas Workforce Partnership is: www.workforcepartnership.com BEC has been awarded contracts with the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) to provide KDHE accredited Lead Hazard Control/Abatement Training and RRP Lead-Safe Work Practices (LSWP) training. BEC has been awarded contracts with the Missouri Department of Health & Senior Services (MDHSS), the Missouri Department of Transportation (MODOT) and the Missouri Department of Natural Resoources (MDNR) to provide our professional training courses to their staff. Additionally, BEC has been awarded a contract with the Kansas City, MO Health Department to provide RRP LSWP Training and Lead Hazard Control/Abatement Training for Workers and Supervisors. EPA's RRP RULE In an effort to try to address some of the confusion about EPA's Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) Rule, we are providing the following. The following information is not being offered as an interpretation of any State or federal regulation, rule, law, and/or statute, but is being provided as an explanation of how we understand the RRP Rule. You must always contact EPA and/or the appropriate State agencies with your questions regarding their interpretation of their own regulations, rules, laws, and/or statutes: The RRP Rule pertains to all work involving the disturbance of lead-based paint (LBP) that is being provided for Target Housing (basically all pre-1978 residential houses & apartments) and Child-Occupied Facilities (basically all Pre-Schools, Daycares and Kindergartens). HUD regulations (Lead Safe Housing Rule [LSHR] published on 9/15/99) pertains to all federally owned and federally assisted properties (such as, Section 8, NSP, Weatherization, CDBG, HOME, VA, USDA, etc.). EPA regulations (Renovation, Repair, and Painting [RRP] Rule published on 4/22/08) pertains to all work in Target Housing and Child-Occupied facilities which are not federally owned or federally assisted. If someone has received only the HUD Lead-Safe Work Practices (LSWP) training, they must now also receive the RRP Training. If someone received HUD’s LSWP training or EPA’s RRP training (collectively hereafter referred to as LSWP training) from a Company before that Company was accredited by EPA and/or a State to provide the accredited LSWP Training, or, if someone received the LSWP training before EPA's new RRP training curriculum came out in February of 2009, then the LSWP training they received is no longer valid and they are now required to take the full 8-hour LSWP class using the new EPA training curriculum. If they took the full 8-hour HUD LSWP class before a Company was EPA/State accredited or before the new EPA curriculum came out and they received that training from a firm like Baker Environmental Consulting, Inc. (BEC, a firm recognized by EPA), then those people are now required to only have to take a 4-hour LSWP refresher class from an accredited training provider (such as from BEC). Renovation projects also require the renovation firm to be EPA and/or State licensed as a Renovation Firm. Renovation firms and individual Certified Renovators must renew the Licenses and Certifications at least every 5 years under the EPA's RRP Rule. Before a Certified Renovator can renew their individual certification, they must take at least a 4-hour LSWP Refresher training course from an accredited training provider (such as from BEC). On HUD projects, if it is NOT an abatement project (if it is a renovation, rehab, repair, maintenance, painting, or paint stabilization type project), HUD requires everyone to receive LSWP training from an EPA and/or State accredited training provider (such as from BEC) and to be certified by EPA/State (KS has their own certification/licensing requirement, which is separate and aside from EPA). These people can be certified by the State as an Abatement Worker or Abatement Supervisor, but they must have the LSWP certification as well. On HUD Projects, if it IS an abatement project, then everyone must be certified by the EPA/State as an Abatement Worker or Abatement Supervisor (at least one abatement Supervisor on every job), plus, they must be EPA/State certified as a Renovator by taking the LSWP class from an accredited training provider (such as from BEC). Abatement projects also require the firms to be licensed as a Lead Activity/Lead Abatement Firm. We hope that this helps. If not, please give us a call to discuss this further.
RRP LEAD-SAFE WORK PRACTICES TRAINING We are proud to annouce that effective December 22, 2009, BEC has received full and formal Nationwide accreditation from EPA to provide training for "Lead Safety During Renovation, Repair and Painting". This is the EPA mandated training, as required under the new EPA Rule referred to as the "RRP Rule" (Renovation, Remodeling and Painting Rule). Effective April 22, 2010, on a Nationwide basis (be advised that some states may put regulations into effect earlier), all persons who provide construction trade services (e.g., Carpentry, Painting, Renovation, Remodeling, HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical, Modernization, Roofing, Carpet Installation, Repair, Maintenance, etc.), where they will impact equal to or greater than 6 square feet interior, or equal to or greater than 20 squre feet exterior, of any lead-containing material/paint/surface coating will be mandated to have successfully completed this professional 1-day training course. All persons will also be required to be licensed/certified by the appropriate State agency where the work is occurring or by EPA. Lead Safety Training, as well as the documented and proper use of lead-safe work practices will be required for all persons nationwide. BEC Staff have also received and assisted in providing HUD's own Lead-Safe Work Practices (LSWP) "Train-The-Trainer" training courses. Our LSWP Training Manual and Course is one of only a few in the nation to have been formally approved by HUD. This LSWP training is required under the Federal Lead-Safe Housing Rule (Section 1012/1013 of Title X). The objectives of the course are to assist people in the construction trades to do their jobs in a manner that will greatly reduce the likelihood of exposure to the hazards of lead. This course is currently required for any and all persons and firms that work on federally owned or federally assisted/funded residential dwelling units that were built before 1978, when any work in that structure will impact at least 2 square feet of a surface area. The reason for the mandate is due to the fact that persons in construction related trades have a much higher incidence of causing lead poisoning, including the poisoning of their own families, than most all other trades. PLEASE NOTE THAT ON A CASE-BY-CASE BASIS, WE WILL ALSO OFFER WEEKEND CLASSES IN ORDER TO HELP YOU MEET THE REGULATORY MANDATES WITH AS LITTLE IMPACT AS POSSIBLE. CALL FOR DETAILS. To ensure that you are getting the best available and most accurate information that is possible, you should obtain professional LSWP Training only from professionally experienced training providers, with real world hands-on experience, who have also attended and successfully completed the appropriate "Train The Trainer" courses. You should seek to receive training only from professional training firms that have training course curriculum that has been approved by HUD, EPA, KDHE, DHSS, and/or other pertinent regulatory agencies. Mold Investigation & Consulting Services At the request of local, state and private agencies, Baker Environmental Consulting, Inc. (BEC) has been providing professional Mold Investigations now since the latter part of 2001. Just as we are known to be the predominant experts in the Lead Hazard Control Industry, we are now being referred to as "the Gurus of Mold". Our investigative techniques are a result of hands-on experience, knowledge and expertise acquired from being in the environmental industry since 1976. We couple our unequaled expertise with the tried and true investigation protocol and criteria established by state and federal agencies. Our investigative reports have been heralded as "exceptionally useful and truly functional reports". Every report developed by BEC not only clearly details any problems identified, but we provide our clients with real-world solutions to take care of any problems identified. Federal Lead-Based Paint Requirements for Pre-1978 Residential Housing The HUD Regulations (24 CFR, Part 35) that were published in the Federal Register on September 15, 1999 became fully effective on January 10, 2002. This Rule is known as the HUD Lead-Safe Housing Rule and is a requirement mandated by Title X (Section 1012/1013). Click here for more information. ICF Consulting, by way of a contract with HUD, is offering a series of two (2) day classes across the nation that assists persons in implementing the Section 1012/1013 regulations form Title X. The program training, entitled "Making It Work", is an exceptionally effective and fully functional follow-on training course to the first series of courses that were conducted regarding the Section 1012/1013 regulations. These regulations that were published in the Federal Register on September 15, 1999, have an impact on each and every pre-1978 federally owned or federally assisted residential housing unit in the entire nation. These regulations seek to make the federal government the "model landlord" by requiring activities that identify and control LBP and lead hazards. Call the HUD Office of Healthy Homes and Lead Hazard Control at: (202) 755-1785 or ICF Consulting at: (703) 934-3961 to get more information about this very important training opportunity. Prerequisites to Become Licensed to Perform Lead Activities Work Click here for a document containing a list of Kansas and Missouri prerequisites to becoming licensed to perform lead activities work. Model Inspection and Risk Assessment Report Through a Joint Venture work effort, BEC has developed a Lead-Based Paint Inspection report and a Lead Hazard Risk Assessment report that is being used by HUD and ICF Consulting as a model report for how Inspection and Risk Assessment reports should be written. We have also developed an Operations and Maintenance (O & M) Work Plan that HUD is using as a Model and encouraging all HUD associated agencies across the nation to use. We are proud of our work effort and even more proud that HUD and ICF have chosen our reports as "the shining examples"! Software Available Earth & Family, L.L.C. is offering for sale software to assist persons who want to perform LBP Inspections, Lead Hazard Risk Assessments and Lead Hazard Control/Abatement Monitoring. The three (3) separate software packages provide numerous examples of immediately useful information, several example reports (the same ones being used by HUD as Model reports), standard operating procedures (SOP), very helpful checklists, and even offers suggestions for persons to consider when providing or conducting these lead related work activities. The three (3) software packages have been heralded as "the most useful and truly functional LBP activity assistance software that has ever been developed". Please contact Richard Baker at (913) 541-0220 or (877) 603-LEAD for pricing and purchasing information. Discounts are available for members of LEHA, for governmental agencies, for non-profit agencies, and for purchases of multiple software copies. |
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