Another way people often deal with lead on wooden surfaces is to chuck them
out and buy new.  This lead paint is now uncontrolled and unidentified laying
attached to a piece of wood in a landfill, instead of properly stripped-
labeled and contained inside a sealed drum of some sort.

        John H. Stahl
----------
From:   BULLAMANKA-PINHEADS The historic preservation free range. on behalf of
Ken Follett
Sent:   Saturday, March 07, 1998 7:08 AM
To:     [log in to unmask]
Subject:        Re: lead paint hazard abatement

Lyssa Papazian wrote:

> I am interested in information about handling the costs of historically
> sensitive lead paint hazard abatement

 Complicated issue. I don't know anything about it and avoid getting involved
in abatement as much as possible.

1) Lead abatement is covered under OSHA regs as far as workers go. OSHA does
not cover citizens. EPA, DEP etc. covers citizen exposures. It is not good to
be dumping lead paint into the environment. Suggest you contact OSHA for
literature.
2) A contractor, in order to protect their workers from exposure to lead, has
to assume and protect accordingly, when there is any suspicion that a paint
contains lead, until it is proven otherwise. A contractor can be held
criminally liable for exposing workers to lead. Blood lead levels have to be
tested, first as a baseline on hiring, and then following over a cyclical
period of time. Worker's whose levels are too high have to be removed from
the source of exposure. This increases overhead costs for project management.

3) Recommend establishing a program of testing for lead. Lead testing is
relatively inexpensive in comparison to the results if a material is
improperly abated. No lead, less cost. Lead present, expect headaches, hire
professionals.
4) Costs? Recommend going through the yellow pages, blue book, contractor
directories, and seeking out a profile of abatement contractors that both
have integrity (many in the field are suspect) and are experienced working
with historic structures. This means making a lot of phone calls, asking for
references, and carefully checking the references. There are few abatement
contractors that will fit the profile. Lead abatement is a minefield for the
conscientious contractor, so they tend to avoid it, leaving room for the
contractors that are not interested in saving historic fabric... but in
maximizing production and profit. Cost quotations from abatement contractors
can vary an INCREDIBLE amount... a reason to get nervous.
5) Recommend you contact the NPS Historic Preservation Training Center in
Frederick, MD. They have a very well conceived lead abatement program that
they practice at our National Parks. They can also advise on what works well
for them ie. protective clothing that does not hike up around the ankles.
6) Though Tyvek suits and a shower seems like overkill... a primary reason
for having a worker go home CLEAN is that they do not bring lead into the
home environment and expose children. This stuff gets left on the furniture
and in the carpets and is absorbed through the skin.
7) Lead accumulates in your bone marrow and tends to leach out in old age...
like after retirement.
8) You also need to do air monitoring during abatement... which is best done
by a third party to avoid conflict of interest.
9) I understand with the NPS that all lead they abate goes into drums and is
sent off with a manifest that eternally identifies them as responsible for
the container. This is the legal way to do it. Any other way is unethical.
10) It is for reasons such as these that there is pressure to encapsulate.
All removal methods present hazards, long term responsibilites, unkown risks
(what we think we abate safely today we may be put on trial for tomorrow,
such as, the cigarettes/asbestos/thalidomide/breast implants we sold ten
years ago we will be sued for today), and pollution of the environment.

I find interesting the migration of lead from the natural environment to a
closer proximity to the human environment, now in reverse with our consiously
trying to isolate humans from lead either by use of petrochemical based
encapsulation or packing it into steel drums and sending it back to now
pollute nature. If this is not a form of social insanity and bad planning
then I don't know what is.

][<en Follett