Last week Hanley Wood hosted the JLCLive Trade show
from Wednesday to Saturday. The show was well attended and there was no shortage of great seminars to help contractors sharpen their saw and learn from industry leaders.
On Wednesday I put together a RRP Training that was taught by Shawn McCadden. We trained 60 contractors. Our Rhode Island accredited training provider was RI Lead Tech owner Kent Ackley. The surprise of the day was we had a visitor from the State of Rhode Island. The class was audited by Ms. Bonnie CassaniBrandt fron the Rhode Island Department of Health. We had 8 hands on trainers and the class went great. We had people from as far away as New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York. Shawn did a great job teaching this class. Attendees from this class came from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and surrounding states like New York, Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Both Mass and RI have delegated authority form the EPA to administer and enforce the RRP Lead Rule. The other states are regulated by the EPA. Our training had to ensure that all participants' training would be recognized in their home state. So Shawn taught the base EPA course, the Mass differences and then Kent Ackley taught the Rhode Island differences.
Some contractors who live in southern Mass, Rhode Island and eastern Conn, were surprised to learn that to work in all three states one would need to be a Certified firm in Mass, Rhode Island and the also certify with the EPA for Conn. Cost $375.00 for Mass, $80.00 for Rhode Island and $300.00 for Conn. Total; $755.00.
On Friday I participated in a town hall forum panel moderated by Sal Alfano, 
Editor of Remodeling Magazine. Our panel included Shawn, Mike Gorman and Attorney Mike Sams.
Many of the questions were on whether or not enforcement is going to take place, inconsistencies in the rule, legal issues and testing for lead based paint.
It was great to see many contractors attending the business and trade seminars eagerly seeking knowledge to improve their business.
Were you there?
"one voice for the residential construction industry"
