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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:
Dust-lead hazard - 40 pg/square foot on
floors
250 pg/square foot on window sills
400 pg/square foot for window troughs
Soil-lead hazard - 400 parts per million
(ppm) for bare soil play areas
1200 ppm average in te rest of the yard
If you have questions or need additional information, please contact me.
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