What Is a Child-Occupied Facility Under the RRP Rule?

A child-occupied facility under the RRP Rule is a building, or a portion of a building, constructed before 1978 where the same child under age six visits often enough to meet four specific time thresholds set out in 40 CFR 745.83. Once a space qualifies, any renovation that disturbs painted surfaces has to be performed by an EPA-certified firm using lead-safe work practices, with a certified renovator on site and full notification, containment, cleaning, and recordkeeping. Misclassifying a space cuts two ways: young children can be exposed to lead dust, and civil penalties now run up to $49,772 per violation per day.¹

The Four-Part Time Test

The regulation ties the classification to a single child’s schedule, not to overall traffic. All four of the following must be true of the same child under age six:²

Visits on at least two different days within the same Sunday-through-Saturday week.
Is present at least three hours on each of those days.
Accumulates at least six hours total in that week.
Accumulates at least 60 hours over the year.

Two points trip people up. First, hours from different children do not combine. If no single child clears every prong, the space doesn’t qualify, no matter how many kids move through it. Second, the “week” is the fixed calendar week running Sunday through Saturday, not a rolling seven-day window.

Buildings That Typically Qualify

The rule names day care centers, preschools, and kindergarten classrooms as examples, but the list is not exhaustive. Any space that meets the four-part test qualifies. That pulls in some settings owners don’t always think of: church nurseries running a Sunday service plus a midweek program, home-based child care in a pre-1978 house, community centers with recurring toddler programming, and hospital or clinic play areas used on a regular schedule.

A child-occupied facility can also sit inside a larger building that mostly serves adults. An office tower with a ground-floor day care, or a hospital wing with a scheduled children’s playroom, contains a child-occupied facility even though most of the structure has nothing to do with young children. The RRP obligations attach to the qualifying portion of the building and to certain adjacent areas, not to the whole structure.²

How Far the Designation Reaches

Inside a public or commercial building, the designation covers common areas that children under six routinely use, such as restrooms and cafeterias. Spaces children merely pass through are treated differently: the regulation specifically excludes hallways, stairways, and garages from the child-occupied facility designation.² Renovating a hallway that children walk down on their way to a classroom does not, by itself, put that hallway inside the scope.

On the exterior, the designation extends to the sides of the building immediately adjacent to the child-occupied rooms or to the common areas children routinely use. The far side of a large commercial building, with no connection to those spaces, sits outside the scope. Before scoping a project, identify which exterior walls actually border the child-occupied areas.

When the RRP Rule Does Not Apply

Not every project in a pre-1978 building triggers the full requirements. A few narrow carve-outs matter.

Minor Repair and Maintenance

Work that disturbs six square feet or less of painted interior surface, or 20 square feet or less of painted exterior surface, is classified as minor maintenance and repair rather than a “renovation.” Those small jobs are exempt from RRP requirements, including pamphlet delivery. The exemption does not apply if the work involves window replacement, demolition of painted surfaces, or any prohibited work practice.³

Lead-Free Determination

If a certified inspector or risk assessor confirms the paint contains no lead, the RRP Rule does not apply to the tested components. A certified renovator can also use an EPA-recognized test kit or send paint chip samples to an EPA-recognized laboratory. When either method shows no lead on the surfaces being disturbed, those components can be renovated without lead-safe work practices. The test results must be documented and kept.

Emergency Renovations

Work performed in response to an immediate safety hazard, public health threat, or risk of significant property damage qualifies as an emergency renovation. During the emergency, firms are relieved of pre-renovation education, warning signs, containment, waste handling, training, and certification requirements to the extent necessary to respond. Cleaning, cleaning verification, and recordkeeping still apply.⁴

The relief ends when the source of the emergency is fixed. Any follow-up work to restore the area, such as patching a wall after an emergency pipe repair or repainting water-damaged surfaces, has to comply with the full rule.

What Compliance Requires Once a Space Qualifies

Firm and Renovator Certification

Every firm performing renovation work in a pre-1978 child-occupied facility, including sole proprietorships, must hold an EPA-issued RRP certification. Firms apply online. The certification lasts five years, and the current fee is $300, or $20 for tribal firms. Firms should apply for recertification at least 90 days before expiration to avoid a gap. If the business is sold, the new owner has to apply from scratch rather than use the old certification.⁵

At least one certified renovator has to be assigned to each project. That person trains on-site workers, sets up containment, performs the post-work cleaning verification, and completes the documentation. Anyone else disturbing painted surfaces must either hold their own certification or have been trained by the assigned renovator.

Roughly 15 states run their own EPA-authorized programs instead of operating under direct federal oversight. In those states, contractors certify through the state agency, and the state may impose stricter requirements. An EPA certification alone may not satisfy a state-run program, so verify which regime applies before starting work.

Pre-Renovation Notification

Before starting a qualifying project, the certified firm must give a copy of the EPA’s “Renovate Right” pamphlet to the building owner or operator, and provide general renovation information to families whose children under six attend the facility.⁶ The firm has to obtain written acknowledgment of receipt from the owner or their agent. When multiple contractors are on the same job, they can agree who handles delivery, but each firm remains individually responsible for making sure it happens.⁷

Work Practices

The certified firm must isolate the work area so no dust or debris escapes, using taped-down plastic sheeting on floors and ground surfaces, and maintain those barriers throughout the project.⁸ Several methods are prohibited outright: open-flame burning of lead-based paint, operating a heat gun above 1,100°F, and machine sanding or grinding without a HEPA vacuum attachment. Each generates lead dust or fumes that containment cannot reliably capture.

Cleaning Verification

After cleaning, the certified renovator performs a visual inspection of the work area and two feet beyond it, checking for any visible dust, debris, or residue. If anything is visible, the area is re-cleaned. The formal verification then uses wet disposable cloths wiped across surfaces and compared to an EPA-issued cleaning verification card. Window sills are wiped individually; floors and countertops larger than 40 square feet are divided into sections and wiped separately. Surfaces that fail are re-cleaned and re-wiped, and if a second wet cloth still fails, the renovator waits at least an hour for the surface to dry and finishes with a dry electrostatic cloth.

Recordkeeping

Certified firms have to keep renovation records for three years after completion.⁷ Required documentation includes lead-testing records (test kit brand or lab identity, components tested and their locations, and results), pamphlet delivery acknowledgments or certificates of mailing, and records showing compliance with the work practice, containment, cleaning, and verification standards. For emergency renovations, the file must also identify the nature of the emergency and which rule provisions were and were not followed.

Penalties

The RRP Rule is enforced under the Toxic Substances Control Act. After the January 2025 inflation adjustment, the maximum civil penalty is $49,772 per violation per day, and each day of a continuing violation can be treated as a separate offense.¹ Enforcement is not limited to the contractor performing the work. Building owners and facility operators who hire uncertified firms, or allow renovations to proceed without proper lead-safe practices, can face their own penalties. Before signing a contract, verify the firm’s EPA certification and confirm that a certified renovator will be on site for the duration of the project.

1
Federal Register. Civil Monetary Penalty Inflation Adjustment
2
eCFR. 40 CFR 745.83 – Definitions
3
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. If a Project Disturbs Six Square Feet or Less of Interior Surface or 20 Square Feet or Less of Exterior Surface
4
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. What Is an Emergency Renovation for Purposes of the RRP Rule
5
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Renovation, Repair and Painting Program – Firm Certification
6
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Lead-Safe Certified Guide to Renovate Right
7
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Lead-Based Paint Program Frequently Asked Questions
8
eCFR. 40 CFR Part 745 Subpart E – Residential Property Renovation