An effort was made to determine take home lead (7439921) exposures during lead based paint abatement. Dust samples were collected from cars of 27 workers involved in the repainting of a bridge over the Thames River in Connecticut. The workers also completed questionnaires regarding personal hygiene practices, frequency of car cleaning, and eating and smoking habits inside the car. Blood lead tests were performed. Atomic absorption spectrophotometry following NIOSH Method 7082 was used to analyze sample lead concentrations. Surface wipes on interior surfaces showed the highest lead levels on the driver's floor and armrest, with mean concentrations of 1,900 and 1,100 microgram/square meter (microg/m2), respectively. The mean lead concentrations for other surfaces were found to be below 500microg/m2. A statistically significant difference was observed only between lead levels on the driver's floor and on the steering wheel, which had a mean level of 240microg/m2. Blood lead levels ranged from 4 to 17micrograms/deciliter. A significant correlation was found between lead blood levels and steering wheel lead concentrations. Lead levels determined by a vacuum method found the highest lead levels for industrial hygiene/safety officers and the lowest levels for blasters/painters. No significant differences were seen between jobs or exposure groups. Of the workers in the low exposure group, 25% wore company supplied clothing and either changed or showered before going home, and 50% took their work shoes home. All workers in the high exposure group wore company clothes and changed before going home, with 90% also showering before going home. None of the high exposure workers took their shoes home. The authors conclude that failure to shower and change clothes and shoes led to significantly increased levels of lead in workers' vehicles.
Links with this icon indicate that you are leaving the CDC website.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cannot attest to the accuracy of a non-federal website.
Linking to a non-federal website does not constitute an endorsement by CDC or any of its employees of the sponsors or the information and products presented on the website.
You will be subject to the destination website's privacy policy when you follow the link.
CDC is not responsible for Section 508 compliance (accessibility) on other federal or private website.
For more information on CDC's web notification policies, see Website Disclaimers.
CDC.gov Privacy Settings
We take your privacy seriously. You can review and change the way we collect information below.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not know when you have visited our site, and will not be able to monitor its performance.
Cookies used to make website functionality more relevant to you. These cookies perform functions like remembering presentation options or choices and, in some cases, delivery of web content that based on self-identified area of interests.
Cookies used to track the effectiveness of CDC public health campaigns through clickthrough data.
Cookies used to enable you to share pages and content that you find interesting on CDC.gov through third party social networking and other websites. These cookies may also be used for advertising purposes by these third parties.
Thank you for taking the time to confirm your preferences. If you need to go back and make any changes, you can always do so by going to our Privacy Policy page.