Many people find it exciting to keep up with trends. Something new or different equates to fun, originality and even adventure. Very few who follow trends ever think that their behavior might risk exposure to danger. A recent popular one involved furniture and decor. The stressed treatment furniture with scratches, holes, bent nails with splotches of paint here and there suddenly became fashionable. Most of the furniture came from discarded pieces painted long ago, or from wood salvaged from old structures demolished decades before - now called reclaimed wood.
What has come as surprise is that the cherished piece of furniture or wall or floor decor may possess dangerous levels of lead. Once covered with a lead-based paint, the remnant poisonous lead remains. Now exposed, the villain continues to pose problems for homeowners and businesses. Especially for those who have used the wood to decorate walls, floors and ceilings.
The solution to the problem is easy - throw out the furniture or the decor. Calmer heads recommend testing first before taking drastic action. Many of these pieces demanded high prices and throwing away something costly may prove foolish.
Fortunately, the cost of testing is not expensive. Test kits are available at many local hardware stores. Scraping off a few chips is all it takes, aside from placing the shard samples on a test strip to see if it turns the correct color (red usually). The owner should reflect before deciding. In the interim, the owner should isolate the questionable piece.
It is fair to wonder if the furniture or decor, even though exposed many years if not decades before, continues to present the threat of lead poisoning.
Paint seeps into wood. Most of the older paints were oil-based and wood absorbed that lead-tainted oil like a sponge sopping up water. If an owner is one of the lucky ones, the of wood of the furniture piece may have never been exposed to lead-tainted paint.
The risk as always lies mostly on the shoulder of children. Cribs are always a popular item and the stressed look enhanced that popularity. A simple example will provide insight. While children are teething, it is very common to find chew marks on their cribs.
Lead poisoning continues to raise its dangerous head in many ways. It once held a place so intrinsic to the American way of life, locating it presented no problems. Given its once prominent role in daily life, the continued promise of its debilitating effects may persist for generations to come.
When you make the decision not to start a DIY project and hire a local contractor to help with lead based paint removal from your home, there are compliance regulations that must be followed.
Three Tips for Adhering to OSHA Standards for Lead Paint Removal
The requirements of OSHA standards for the workplace can sometimes be overwhelming. However, these requirements are not necessarily the product of arbitrary bureaucracy. This is especially clear for topics pertaining to lead-based paint removal.
Following OSHA regulations when removing lead-based paint in an industrial setting can prevent illness, provide guidance for the best removal techniques, and lessen the potential for legal issues down the line.
Here are three tips to get you started with OSHA regulations for lead paint removal:
- Measure the air for lead exposure. The OSHA standard for lead exposure is 50 micrograms of lead per cubic meter. The CDC provides a set of standard practices and procedures to follow for measuring lead content in the air of a workplace. Expect continued testing every six months even for levels below the OSHA standard, to monitor for possible increases as work continues.
- Match worker protection with the level of lead exposure. Don't underestimate the protective gear and techniques required for a safe workplace. Respirators, protective clothing, hand and eye-washing stations, and a detailed training program are the minimum requirements of a workplace engaged in lead paint removal.
- Explore as many safe avenues of ventilation as possible. Ventilation is the simplest and most effective method of reducing lead exposure in the air. Equip paint removal power tools with dust collection shrouds, exhausted through a HEPA vacuum setup. Also look for any opportunities for general dilution. Maintain an effective local exhaust system to mitigate the level of lead suspended in the air at the work site.
OSHA lead exposure standards cover more than these details, so view these suggestions as a starting point for developing a safe workplace for lead paint removal.
ECOBOND® LBP, LLC is the nation’s leader in developing and distributing products that improve the protection of human health and safety from the hazards of lead in the home, workplace, and the environment. With over 15 years in patented and proven success, the ECOBOND® family of products have been extensively used in successfully treating lead hazards in over 11,000,000 tons of material while serving over 100,000 customers in the United States and Internationally.
To learn more visit www.ecobondlbp.com, view lead paint treatment video or download free Industry Report:http://www.LeadPaintRemovalReport.com