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Lead Paint
Consulting Terms Lead
Based Paint
Paint (also putties, glazes and
other surface coatings) which contain a
"dangerous"
amount of lead, this level has been determined by ASTM
(American Society for Testing
Materials) as being 2 parts per million. Under
current regulations paint with greater than
600 parts per million is no longer manufactured for
household use, but it is still available
for marine and other exterior use.
Lead
Naturally occurring mineral
which has been proven to have severe health effects
if breathed or ingested. Only tetraethyl lead (i.e., the
kind of lead used in gasoline is
known to be readily absorbed by the skin.
HUD
Housing and Urban
Development, the Federal agency which is currently in
charge of public housing. HUD has published
guidelines for the testing and risk
assessment of lead in public housing aimed toward
reducing lead poisoning primarily
in children and women of child bearing potential.
OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration; the Federal agency responsible
for workplace safety; OSHA has strict regulations
regarding exposure of workers to
lead.
Lead Inspection
The process of inspecting a
building or dwelling to determine the presence
of lead in the painted surfaces. The determination of
"lead" is different for HUD than it
is for OSHA. HUD defines "lead paint" as
having greater than 1 micrograms per
square centimeter of surface or .5% by weight. OSHA has
no threshold limit: any
detectable lead in paint makes it lead paint as far as
worker exposures are concerned.
Lead inspections are performed by XRF paint chip
analysis or a combination of both.
XRF
Xray
Fluorescence: This method involves the use of an
instrument which
utilizes a radioactive source (usually Cadmium 109 or
Cobalt 57) to measure the
amount of lead on a painted surface. The instrument
reports results in micrograms per
squared centimeter of surface. There is no correlation
between the amount of lead
measured by XRF and the amount of lead which is
determined by Atomic Absorption
under the current reporting standards. Most
XRF instruments are adversely affected by
the substrate, or surface which underlies the paint.
The Niton XL does not need
substrate correction. It can also determine the
relative depth of lead (i.e., whether
it is at the surface or buried beneath layers of
non-leaded paint.
Atomic
Absorption
The method of analysis used to
determine the percent of lead in paint chips,
dust samples, soil and water. This is a laboratory
(as opposed to field) method. The
results are reported in parts per million (ppm) and/or in
% lead for amount of material
tested.
Specification
Guidelines which a contractor
will follow in removing or otherwise abating
lead paint.
Project Management
During abatement it is often
prudent to have a professional representing the
interests of the building owner to oversee the project.
Abatement
The process of treating lead
paint to reduce or remove its hazard potential.
The three methods of abatement
are removal, or taking the
lead off the surface,
encasement, which
is enclosing the lead paint behind or within an
impermeable covering,
and replacement which is the process of removing
the building component and replacing
it with a new piece.
Air Monitoring
Collecting samples of air for
the purposes of determining the quantity of
lead dust. Air samples are collected
either in the breathing zone of workers (personal
air
samples) or in large areas. During an abatement
project it is customary to have air
samples
taken outside the work area to ensure and document that
the lead dust did not
migrate to
other unprotected areas.
Clearance
Sampling / Wipe Sampling
After a lead abatement action,
it is customary (required by HUD) to take
wipe samples of measured areas of the room to determine
the residual levels of lead.
The samples are analyzed by atoms absorption, and results
are reported in micrograms
per square foot. The current EPA recommendations
for clearance are:
Uncarpetted
Floors
100 micrograms/square foot
Interior
Window Sills
500
micrograms/square foot
Window
Troughs /
Wells 800 micrograms/square
foot
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me.
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