Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
The revised OSHA construction industry standard includes a 0.1 f/cc
PEL and a 1 f/cc excursion limit. It also defines four levels of work activities
in buildings that require different degrees of building and worker protection.
When asbestos exposure and health risk concerns for individuals in
schools were initially raised, regulators faced an unknown but potentially
significant health risk to children and other building occupants; they
assumed the worst. Significant resources were expended conducting inspec-
tions, preparing management plans, and abating potential asbestos hazards.
Based on the current scientific understanding of asbestos risks in buildings,
the regulatory response was much greater than it needed to be. Contempo-
rary asbestos exposure concerns in buildings focus appropriately on main-
tenance workers, the individuals who are at greatest risk of exposure.
B.
Lead
It became increasingly evident to public health officials in the 1950s that lead
poisoning observed in many children was associated with deteriorated lead-
based paint (LBP) in old housing. As a consequence, a number of U.S. cities
including Chicago, Baltimore, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, St. Louis,
Washington, Jersey City, New Haven, and Wilmington banned LBP intended
for use in building interiors. The paint industry voluntarily limited the lead
content in interior paints to 1% by dry weight in 1955. These early public
efforts and subsequent regulatory and policy actions related to LBP hazards
are summarized in
Table 13.2
.
In the 1950s and 1960s, several cities initiated childhood lead screening
programs and developed programs to educate parents whose children were
at risk of significant lead exposure on ways to minimize that risk.
The first federal LBP legislation was enacted by Congress in 1971. The
Lead-based Paint Poisoning Prevention Act (LBPPPA) authorized the Secre-
tary of Health, Education and Welfare (DHEW) to prohibit use of LBP
(defined as containing more than 1% lead by weight) in residential dwellings
constructed or rehabilitated under federal programs. The LBPPPA also
authorized development of a national program to encourage and assist
states, counties, and cities to conduct mass screening programs to identify
children with elevated blood lead levels (EBLs), refer them for treatment,
investigate homes for lead sources, and require LBP abatement where
deemed necessary.
At that time, the public health understanding of childhood lead poison-
ing was that EBLs resulted when unsupervised children ate paint chips; lead
poisoning in children was seen as a problem of deteriorating indoor paint
that contained high lead levels.
In 1972, HUD promulgated regulations prohibiting the use of LBP in
public housing or HUD-financed housing. The LBPPPA was amended in
1973 to lower the permissible paint lead content to 0.5% until December 31,
1974, and to 0.06% thereafter unless the Consumer Product Safety Commis-
