In the Field · Part 4

Environmental rules: EPA lead-safe certification for any pre-1978 home, asbestos and transite pipe, and stormwater

Three environmental rules reach into ordinary plumbing work and are enforced by agencies most plumbers never meet until the fine arrives. The federal lead rule makes any work for pay in a pre-1978 home that disturbs painted surfaces, which a repipe, a wall opening, or a tub replacement does, a job for an EPA-certified firm using a certified renovator and lead-safe practices, with a pamphlet to the customer before starting. Asbestos is in the transite pipe, the old duct wrap, and the floor tile a plumber cuts through; California's license law exempts transite pipe work from the CSLB asbestos certification but Cal/OSHA's asbestos standard still applies to every employee who touches it. And the water from a jetter, a heater flush, or a saw cut may not go down the storm drain. This lesson gives each rule with its trigger, what compliance costs, and what enforcement costs.