Join us for your next meeting where Turns out you’re not the only one who’s been critiquing the painting on HGTV’s hit Fixer Upper—the EPA has been too.
Waco, Texas-based Magnolia Waco Properties LLC, HGTV stars Chip and Joanna Gaines’ business better known under its name Magnolia Homes, has agreed to a $40,000 settlement related to violations of the Lead Renovation, Repair and Painting Rule (RRP Rule) aired on Fixer Upper.
According to a news release from the EPA, video footage of Magnolia’s renovations of older homes revealed evidence of noncompliance with the RRP rule for 33 property renovations. Violations included neglect to:
• Obtain firm certification from EPA before performing renovations covered by the RRP Rule • Assign a certified renovator to such renovations
• Provide homeowners or occupants with an approved pamphlet about lead-based paint hazards prior to the renovation
• Post signs to clearly define the work area and warn people to remain outside that area
• Comply with the RRP Rule’s work practice standards, such as closing doors and windows to the interior work areas, covering floor surfaces, ducts and other openings to work areas with plastic sheeting, and covering the ground with plastic sheeting to capture falling paint chips from exterior renovations
Magnolia took immediate steps to ensure the compliance of its own operations with the RRP Rule by becoming an EPA certified renovation firm, obtaining training and renovator certification for staff, and bringing active renovations into compliance. In this settlement, however, Magnolia took a step further in its commitment to compliance by implementing a compliance management program, in which it adopted a renovation recordkeeping checklist for use by its own staff and by subcontractors doing regulated work and agreed to compile periodic reports to EPA on its compliance implementation.
And of course, Magnolia is also working to educate its audience around this issue. The team spoke about lead based-paint on an episode of Fixer Upper and depicted some of the steps renovation firms must take to minimize those hazards in a segment of its March 21, 2018 episode. Magnolia also proposed a brief standalone video to further discuss lead-based paint and the RRP Rule to be hosted on its webpage and promoted on social media. The video, in which Chip Gaines will discuss lead safety and depict some of the safe work practices required by the RRP Rule, will be posted on the website within three months of executing this settlement.
Finally, Magnolia will perform a supplemental environmental project (SEP) to abate lead-based paint hazards in homes or child-occupied facilities in the Waco area. A significant portion of Waco’s housing stock was built before 1978, and at least one neighborhood has had historically higher exposure to lead-based paint and a higher percentage of elevated blood lead levels in children than the statewide and national averages. Magnolia’s SEP, which will be performed with an independent abatement firm, will reduce the risk of exposure to lead-based paint by targeting the most likely sources of lead-based paint hazards in residences, such as window and door replacement, removal of lead-based paint and dust, permanent enclosure and encapsulation, and replacement of lead-based paint surfaces and fixtures. Magnolia has committed to spend $160,000 on the SEP.
Article courtesy: http://www.paintmag.com/safety/hgtvs-fixer-uppers-fined-rrp-violations
