A Report to Congress
DHHS (NIOSH) PUBLICATION NO. 98-112
JANUARY 1997
Foreword
In 1992, Congress passed the Housing and Community Development Act (Public Law 102–550), which included as Title X the "Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act of 1992." Title X is a comprehensive law designed to direct the Nation's response to the public health problem of lead-based paint hazards in housing. This law directed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to increase the protection for workers exposed to lead hazards throughout the construction industry. Title X, by amending the Toxic Substances Control Act, also directed the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) to:
"...conduct a comprehensive study of means to reduce hazardous occupational lead abatement exposures. This study shall include, at a minimum, each of the following—This report results from that study. It focuses not only on lead abatement exposures but also on other important exposures to lead-based paint (LBP) in residential and industrial construction work. This comprehensive NIOSH report should be of interest to legislators, public health agencies, industrial hygienists, occupational medicine practitioners, industry associations, unions, employees and employers interested in reducing occupational lead hazards related to LBP.
- Surveillance and intervention capability in the States to identify and prevent hazardous exposures to lead abatement workers.
- Demonstration of lead abatement control methods and devices and work practices to identify and prevent hazardous lead exposures in the workplace.
- Evaluation, in consultation with the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, of health effects of low and high levels of occupational lead exposures on reproductive, neurological, renal, and cardiovascular health.
- Identification of high risk occupational settings to which prevention activities and resources should be targeted.
- A study assessing the potential exposures and risks from lead to janitorial and custodial workers."
Current information is summarized in this report regarding the health effects of occupational lead exposures, high-risk exposure settings, surveillance and intervention capabilities, and methods for control, sampling and analysis of lead exposures. This report also provides recommendations for reducing hazardous occupational lead abatement exposures. Implementation of these recommendations will contribute to the overall mission of NIOSH, i.e., delivering on the Nation's promise: safety and health at work for all people—through research and prevention.
Linda Rosenstock, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, National Institute for
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
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