2.3 Suspension, Revocation, TSCA Violations, and Inspections
Key Takeaways
- EPA may suspend, revoke, or modify an individual's certification for fraudulent training documents, misrepresentation, working without proof of certification, letting someone else use the certificate, working without the right discipline, failing 745.227 work practices, or failing federal, state, or local lead-based paint rules (745.226(g)).
- Firm grounds under 745.226(h) include using uncertified individuals, failing 745.227, misrepresenting application facts, failing to keep required records, and failing federal, state, or local lead-based paint rules. A consent agreement counts as evidence of failure to comply.
- Ordinary actions require written notice of the legal and factual basis, duration, how to avoid the action, and a hearing opportunity. A requested hearing must be held within 90 days; the decision is due within 90 days after the hearing ends.
- If public health, interest, or welfare warrants, EPA may immediately suspend a certificate; the affected person or firm has 15 days to request a hearing on that immediate suspension.
- Conducting 745.227 activities after March 1, 2000 without certification is a TSCA violation. EPA may inspect under 745.237 (TSCA section 11). Refusing inspection, skipping records, or skipping work practices is itself a prohibited act under 745.235.
Suspension, Revocation, TSCA Violations, and Inspections
Quick Answer: EPA can suspend, revoke, or modify individual or firm certification after written notice and a chance for a hearing. Individual grounds include lending your card, working without proof of certification, and failing 745.227. Firm grounds include using uncertified people and failing to keep records. A hearing, if requested, must occur within 90 days; the decision is due 90 days after the hearing ends. Immediate suspension is allowed when public health, interest, or welfare warrants, with 15 days to request a hearing on that suspension. Uncertified work after March 1, 2000 is a TSCA violation, and EPA may inspect under 745.237.
Passing the exam gets you a certificate. 745.226(g)–(i), 745.235, and 745.237 are how EPA takes it back. Supervisors who treat certification as a one-time tuition receipt miss the enforcement half of the regulations domain.
Individual grounds: 745.226(g)
After notice and opportunity for hearing, EPA may suspend, revoke, or modify an individual's certification if the individual has:
| Ground (745.226(g)(1)) | Field translation |
|---|---|
| Obtained training documentation through fraudulent means | Fake course certificate, altered dates, someone else's number |
| Gained admission to and completed training through misrepresentation of admission requirements | Lied to get into the course |
| Obtained certification through misrepresentation of certification requirements or related education, training, registration, or experience documents | Inflated the 1-year worker / 2-year related-field prerequisite |
| Performed work requiring certification without having proof of certification at the job site | Card left in the office; photocopy in a text thread is not "proof" EPA is required to accept |
| Permitted duplication or use of the individual's own certificate by another | Lending the card to a cousin on another crew |
| Performed work for which certification is required but appropriate certification has not been received | Supervisor tasks on a worker card; expired card; never certified |
| Failed to comply with 745.227 work practice standards | Missing OPP, no 5-business-day notice, restricted practices, skipped cleanup |
| Failed to comply with federal, state, or local lead-based paint statutes or regulations | Authorized-state overlay, HUD Lead Safe Housing Rule duties that apply to the job |
745.226(g)(2) adds a proof rule that surprises people: in addition to an administrative or judicial finding of violation, execution of a consent agreement in settlement of an enforcement action constitutes evidence of a failure to comply. Settling is not a magic eraser for certification purposes.
Firm grounds: 745.226(h)
After notice and opportunity for hearing, EPA may suspend, revoke, or modify a firm's certification if the firm has:
- performed work requiring certification with individuals who are not certified
- failed to comply with 745.227 work practice standards
- misrepresented facts in its certification application
- failed to maintain required records
- failed to comply with federal, state, or local lead-based paint statutes or regulations
The same consent-agreement rule applies to firms (745.226(h)(2)). A firm that staffs a certified supervisor and then pads the crew with uncertified laborers is on the first listed ground. A firm that never keeps the occupant protection plan, notification, and abatement report for 3 years is on the records ground even if the dust samples cleared.
Individual and firm cases can run in parallel. Lending a card is an individual violation. Using the person who borrowed it is a firm violation. Missing an OPP can support both: the supervisor failed 745.227, and the firm failed 745.227.
Procedures, hearings, and immediate suspension: 745.226(i)
If EPA decides to suspend, revoke, or modify certification, it must notify the affected individual or firm in writing of:
- The legal and factual basis
- The commencement date and duration
- Actions, if any, that would avoid the action or allow certification in the future
- The opportunity and method for requesting a hearing before final EPA action
- Any additional information EPA provides
If a hearing is requested, EPA provides a chance to offer written statements and other procedures it deems appropriate for a fair hearing, and it appoints an EPA official as Presiding Officer. That official cannot have had a prior connection with the specific matter.
The Presiding Officer must:
- conduct the hearing within 90 days of the request
- consider all relevant evidence, explanation, comment, and argument
- notify the affected entity in writing within 90 days of completion of the hearing of the decision and order
That order is final EPA action subject to judicial review. Memorize two different 90-day clocks: 90 days to hold the hearing after it is requested, and 90 days to decide after the hearing is done. Do not collapse them into one 90-day blob, and do not confuse them with the 90 days EPA has to act on a firm's initial certification application.
Immediate suspension is the emergency lane. If EPA determines that the public health, interest, or welfare warrants immediate action to suspend certification before a hearing, EPA must notify the entity of the intent to suspend immediately, the grounds and why waiting for a hearing is not acceptable, the start date and duration, and the right to request a hearing on the immediate suspension within 15 days of the suspension taking place. If a regular suspension/revocation/modification notice has not already gone out, it is issued at the same time as the immediate-suspension notice.
Notices, decisions, orders, transcripts, and hearing filings are public, except as TSCA section 14 or 40 CFR part 2 (confidential business information) provide. Hearings with oral testimony are open to the public, with the same CBI carve-out.
TSCA violations, inspections, and 745.235
745.226(a)(5) is the individual uncertified-work rule: it is a TSCA violation to conduct 745.227 activities after March 1, 2000 without certification. 745.226(f)(1) is the matching firm rule. 745.235 then lists prohibited acts under TSCA sections 15 and 409:
- failure or refusal to comply with 745.225, 745.226, 745.227, or 745.233
- failure or refusal to establish, maintain, provide, copy, or permit access to records or reports required by those sections
- failure or refusal to permit entry or inspection as required by 745.237 and TSCA section 11 (15 U.S.C. 2610)
- obtaining certification through fraudulent representation
- failing to obtain certification and performing work that requires it
- fraudulently obtaining certification and then doing certified work
Violators are subject to civil and criminal sanctions under TSCA section 16 (15 U.S.C. 2615) for each violation. 745.237 is short on purpose: EPA may conduct reasonable inspections under TSCA section 11 to ensure compliance with Subpart L. Blocking an inspector is not a paperwork spat. It is its own prohibited act.
Exam scenarios: card, OPP, and 5-day notice
Three fact patterns show up because they map cleanly onto listed grounds:
Lending a card. A supervisor who lets another person use the certificate has permitted use of the certificate by another (745.226(g)(1)(v)). The borrower who performs supervisor work without appropriate certification is on (g)(1)(vi). The firm that put the borrower on the job used an uncertified individual (745.226(h)(1)(i)).
Missing occupant protection plan. 745.227(e)(5) requires a unique OPP, prepared before abatement, by a certified supervisor or project designer. Starting demolition of components without that plan is a work-practice failure. Work-practice failure is an individual ground ((g)(1)(vii)) and a firm ground ((h)(1)(ii)). How to write the OPP is Chapter 8; this chapter's point is that the missing document is an enforcement hook, not a courtesy.
Starting without the 5-business-day notice. 745.227(e)(4) requires notification to EPA (or the authorized state) at least 5 business days before beginning abatement, with a narrower EBL/emergency path. Contents and electronic filing are Chapter 9. For enforcement, an early start is a 745.227 failure. "We were already on the property hanging poly" is still beginning the activity. The same file can support a records citation if the notice was never kept.
Working without proof of certification on site is easier to charge than arguing about whether a card exists somewhere. Bring the current individual certificate and the firm certificate to the job, not a photo of last year's wallet card.
Enforcement is how the rest of the syllabus becomes real. If you can name the ground, the notice contents, the 90/90 hearing clocks, the 15-day immediate-suspension request, and the inspection authority, you can handle the regulations items that are really discipline items in disguise.
A certified supervisor lends a photocopy of the EPA certificate to a brother-in-law so the brother-in-law can run a weekend abatement crew. Which individual enforcement ground does that fact pattern match?
EPA immediately suspends a firm's certification because public health, interest, or welfare warrants action before a hearing. How long does the firm have to request a hearing on that immediate suspension?
Which of the following is a listed ground for EPA to suspend, revoke, or modify a firm's lead-based paint activities certification?