The five EPA lead abatement credentials.
Under EPA's lead abatement standards (40 CFR Part 745, Subpart L), five distinct certifications apply to abatement work. They are not interchangeable.
- Firm certification. The company itself must be EPA-certified to perform lead abatement. Firm certification is renewed every five years.
- Project Designer. Designs abatement projects above the threshold for project design. Initial training, refresher on a five-year cycle.
- Supervisor. Runs the project on site, ensures work-practice standards are followed, signs the project documentation. Five-year refresher.
- Worker. Performs the abatement work itself under supervisor direction. Five-year refresher.
- Inspector / Risk Assessor. Pre-abatement testing and post-abatement clearance. Held independent of the abatement contractor on the same project.
What's coming due in 2026.
Personnel credentialed in 2021 are at the five-year mark this year. For a firm running active abatement work, this typically means several supervisor and worker certifications need to be refreshed at staggered points across the calendar year. We plan recertification training at least 60 days ahead of each expiration to avoid staffing gaps.
The firm certification itself, if last renewed in 2021, also requires renewal in 2026 — separately, by application and fee.
What changed under the 2024 dust-lead update.
EPA's 2024 reduction in the dust-lead reportable level — effective January 2025 — tightened post-abatement clearance thresholds:
- Floors: 5 µg/ft² (from 10 µg/ft²)
- Window sills: 40 µg/ft² (from 100 µg/ft²)
- Window troughs: 100 µg/ft² (from 400 µg/ft²)
For abatement, that means more conservative cleanup, more granular HEPA vacuuming, and tighter dust-wipe sampling discipline. Projects scoped under the prior thresholds and executed today against the new numbers are seeing more failed first-pass clearances. The 2026 refresher curriculum reflects this.
The separation rule, restated.
EPA and NYS both reinforce that clearance must be performed by an inspector independent of the abatement contractor. This is structurally identical to the assessor / contractor separation in NYS Article 32 for mold. On Envirex projects, when we hold both sides of the license, we run one role and partner the other out in writing.
Notification and recordkeeping.
Abatement projects require EPA pre-notification at least five business days before the start of work. The firm must retain records of all abatement activities for a minimum of three years — pre-abatement assessment, project design, worker certifications, daily logs, clearance reports and waste manifests.
What owners should ask the contractor.
Three short questions are usually enough to verify a contractor's standing:
- What's your EPA firm certification number, and when was it last renewed?
- Who's the project supervisor on this job, and is their certification current?
- Who's the independent inspector performing clearance?
An EPA-certified abatement firm will have those answers on a project intake call.
For the authoritative source, see EPA's lead abatement program page.