Condo Media - March 2017 - 30

Chipping Away at Health
"Whether the board knows or not, it has a duty to remediate
the common areas."-Mark Einhorn, Partner, Marcus, Errico, Emmer & Brooks
ciations don't address the issue until an
owner needs a lead compliance certiﬁcate. Einhorn thinks boards should be
equally proactive, having common areas
inspected and remediated, if necessary,
before the issue arises.
"That way, you pick the timing," he
says. "You control your own destiny.
You don't run the risk that a small child
will move into the community right
after you've replaced the roof, leaving
you with a huge additional expense for
which you haven't budgeted." And if
the association undertakes renovations
in the future, Einhorn notes, "You will
know ahead of time that you have to
deal with the lead paint" and can include that cost in the renovation budget.
There is no question that a proactive
response to lead paint makes sense
in communities with older buildings,
Risko agrees, "but I've never had an
association ask me to proactively test
and abate common areas," he says. "It's
never happened and it never will."
AN ONGOING CONCERN
That's not the only mistake boards make
in dealing with lead paint, Barrett says.
Most assume that once an inspection
determines that lead paint has been
properly removed or controlled, "they're
all set forever, and that's not true. It is
probably the biggest misconception"
about the law. Boards have an ongoing
responsibility to make sure lead paint
that isn't removed doesn't begin to chip
in the future, and that the material
covering it remains intact. "A certiﬁcate
of compliance just means the paint has
been controlled," he emphasizes. "It
doesn't mean you are lead-free."
The compliance certiﬁcate itself
makes that clear, Risko notes. It says the
certiﬁcation applies only as long as there
is no loose lead paint, and the coverings
"continue to form an eﬀective barrier."

30

CONDOMEDIA

Risko says at least half of the properties he certiﬁes as compliant "fall out
of compliance," and have to go through
the inspection and certiﬁcation process
again. "It goes on and on," he says, adding,
"Ongoing maintenance is [essential]."
ANOTHER INFORMATION GAP
Lead paint exposure is a concern for
maintenance workers as well as for
young children, Barrett points out. This
is another area where he sees a serious
knowledge gap, for management companies as well as condominium boards.
Even relatively minor maintenance
tasks, such as patching holes in walls,
could trigger a host of state and federal
requirements if lead paint is present,
Barrett points out. At a minimum, any
worker who comes in contact with lead
paint must have a certiﬁcate from the
federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), indicating an understanding
of how to handle it safely. But some
states (Massachusetts is one) require a
separate state license, as well, for even
small-scale repairs and renovations.
Under the state law, if the work will
disturb "more than 6 square feet of
painted surface per room" in the interior
or more than 20 square feet on the exterior, either the individual doing the work,
or the company employing the worker,
must have a state license. "Most boards
and management companies aren't
aware of that," Barrett says. "They think,
'My maintenance guys have an EPA
certiﬁcate, so they can do everything,
including lead paint remediation work.'
That isn't remotely the case."
ASBESTOS: UBIQUITOUS
AND DANGEROUS
Like lead paint, asbestos is found in
older buildings-constructed before
1977-"and it could be anywhere," Jack
Carr, senior manager with Portland,

Maine-based Criterium-Mooney Engineers, notes, not just wrapped around
pipes to insulate them (where most
people expect to ﬁnd the substance),
but in the tiles on bathroom walls and
ﬂoors, in adhesives, in plaster, in the
siding on building exteriors. Asbestos
was cheap, it had many beneﬁts (ﬁre
resistance, among them), and it was
widely used, Carr says, "until we discovered that it was deadly."
If an association is renovating older
buildings, he advises, asbestos "should
deﬁnitely be in the board's head."
Disturbing asbestos can release tiny
ﬁbers into the air, which is when it
becomes dangerous. "You can eat the
stuﬀ without any problem," Carr notes.
"It's probably good roughage. But
breathing it over time can cause fatal
lung disease."
Remediation protocols are similar to
those required for lead paint-if the material is intact, it can be encapsulated; if it is
friable (beginning to break down) it must
be removed. And like lead paint, removal
must be handled by licensed contractors.
It isn't a project maintenance workers can
undertake legally or safely.
Another problem with asbestos, Carr
notes, is it's not recognizable. "You can't
tell by looking at a tile or a shingle if it
contains asbestos. You have to test for
it," which can be done easily, he says, by
taking or sending a chip to a laboratory.
For anyone renovating, or doing
even mildly intrusive maintenance on
an older building, the standard advice
for asbestos and lead paint is the same:
"Test before you touch."

■ NENA GROSKIND IS PRESIDENT
OF ECONTENTPLUS, PROVIDING
EDITORIAL CONTENT FOR
WEBSITES, PRINT AND ELECTRONIC
NEWSLETTERS, AND MAGAZINES.
Condo Media - March 2017

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