Tag: #lead

Train workers to avoid take-home lead

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
New NIOSH publication outlines steps to minimize risks

Common jobs with lead exposure include painting, battery manufacturing, building renovation, and shooting range work. For workers in these industries and others, it’s possible to accidentally carry lead home from work via skin, hair, clothing, shoes, and personal items. Take-home lead can contaminate a worker’s car and home, posing an exposure risk to others. A new NIOSH publication notes the hazards of lead and outlines steps to minimize the risk of bringing it home.

Workers can minimize take-home lead by:

  • Limiting the number of personal items brought to work;
  • Using disposable containers for food/drink;
  • Changing into work clothes that remain at work;
  • Storing clean clothes and other personal items in a dedicated area;
  • Practicing proper handwashing;
  • Eating and drinking in approved areas away from dust;
  • Wearing personal protective equipment (PPE);
  • Using high-efficiency particulate air (HEPA) vacuums or wet methods to clean areas that have lead;
  • Following manufacturer’s instructions for PPE removal;
  • Storing work clothes in a closed plastic bag away from other clothes;
  • Washing and drying work clothes away from other items;
  • Removing work shoes before entering their home;
  • Showering soon after arriving home;
  • Cleaning their home and car often; and
  • Using appropriate cleaning supplies to clean up lead.

Workers should also have their blood checked for the presence of lead by a medical provider.

McCraren Compliance offers a full range of safety and health training and consulting services. Plus we can help you incorporate well-being into your traditional systems in order to support the Total Worker Health of your workforce.

Call 888-758-4757, email info@mccrarencompliance.com or visit our website www.mccrarencompliance.com

Original article published by J. J. Keller & Associates, Inc.

Don’t Be “Lead” Astray From Safety

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

Original article published by NIOSH

February 7th is National Periodic Table Day!

 

Photo by ©Getty images

On this day, we pay tribute to the table that helps us understand the properties and characteristics of chemical elements. One particular element, lead, also known as Pb on the periodic table, has been used by humans for thousands of years. Despite its many positive uses, lead continues to be a hazardous exposure in many jobs and industries.

Here are some things to keep in mind about lead exposure:

Your body absorbs lead when you inhale contaminated air at work.
If you eat, drink, or smoke in areas where lead is processed or stored, you could swallow lead dust without knowing.
You can expose anybody who lives or works in your home. If you work with or near lead, you can take home lead dust. Lead dust on your clothes, shoes, or hair is hard to notice.
To keep workers and their families safe, NIOSH provides information and recommendations on the NIOSH lead webpage. The page offers information to reduce lead exposure in the workplace for both workers and employers:

  • Workers: If you work with or near products or materials that contain lead, it can get inside your body. In addition to being exposed at work, taking lead home is a concern. Learn ways workers can protect themselves and their families from lead exposure.
  • Employers: Workplace exposure limits are meant to protect workers from hazardous exposures in the workplace, including lead. Employers must ensure exposure limits are not exceeded. The page offers ways employers can use the hierarchy of controls to keep their workers safe. Read More»

McCraren Compliance offers many opportunities in safety training to help circumvent accidents. Please take a moment to visit our calendar of classes to see what we can do to help your safety measures from training to consulting.

OSHA extends comment period on proposal to amend rules on workplace lead exposure

Posted on by McCraren Compliance
First published by Safety+Health an NSC publication

Lead.jpg

Washington — In response to multiple stakeholder requests, OSHA has extended until Oct. 28 the comment period on a proposed rule that would revise the agency’s standards on occupational exposure to lead in general industry and construction.

According to a notice published in the Aug. 18 Federal Register, the extension provides stakeholders additional time to collect information and data necessary to submit responses and comments. The initial deadline was Aug. 29.

OSHA, in the June 28 Federal Register, published an advance notice of supplemental proposed rulemaking seeking input on blood lead levels for medical removal and return to work, as well as:

  • Medical surveillance provisions, including triggers and frequency of blood lead monitoring
  • Permissible exposure limits
  • Ancillary provisions for personal protective equipment, housekeeping, hygiene and training

The agency’s blood lead level for medical removal is 60 micrograms per deciliter or more for general industry and 50 micrograms per deciliter or more in construction. The return-to-work BLL is less than 40 micrograms per deciliter.

OSHA adopted its standards on lead exposure for general industry and construction in 1978 and 1992, respectively. Since then, studies by the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Association of Occupational and Environmental Clinics, among other organizations, have indicated that adverse effects can occur at lower BLLs.

“For example, BLLs as low as 5 μg/dL have been associated with impaired kidney and reproductive function, high blood pressure, and cognitive effects attributed to prenatal exposure,” the ANPRM stated. “Poorer performance on neurocognitive and neuropsychologic assessments were observed in adults with BLLs as low as 5-19 μg/dL compared with adults with BLLs below 5 μg/dL.”

McCraren Compliance assists employers in protecting their workers, starting with a comprehensive Work-site Analysis, Hazard Prevention, Controls, and Safety & Health Training.

Please contact us today at 888-758-4757 to learn how we can provide mine safety training and consulting for your business.

OSHA begins rulemaking process to revise standards for occupational exposure to lead

Posted on by McCraren Compliance

First published by OSHA

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor announced that its Occupational Safety and Health Administration has published an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to revise its standards for occupational exposure to lead.

Recent medical research on workplace lead exposure shows adverse health effects can occur in adults at lower blood lead levels than recognized previously in the medical removal levels specified in OSHA’s lead standards.

The ANPRM seeks public input on modifying current OSHA lead standards for general industry and construction to reduce the triggers for medical removal protection and medical surveillance and prevent harmful health effects in workers exposed to lead more effectively.

OSHA asks the public to comment on the following areas of the lead standards:

  • Blood lead level triggers for medical removal protection.
  • Medical surveillance provisions, including triggers and frequency of blood lead monitoring.
  • Permissible exposure limit.
  • Ancillary provisions for personal protective equipment, housekeeping, hygiene and training.

The ANPRM will also gather comments on employers’ current practices that address workplace lead exposure and associated costs and other areas of interest.

Read the Federal Register notice for submission instructions. Submit comments online by Aug. 29, 2022, on the federal e-Rulemaking portal and refer to Docket No. OSHA-2018-0004.

McCraren Compliance assists employers in protecting their workers, starting with a comprehensive Work-site Analysis, Hazard Prevention, Controls, and Safety & Health Training.