Prevention of lead poisoning in construction workers: A new public health approach

Abstract

Background In 1990, Yale University, the Connecticut Departments of Health Services and of Transportation, the Connecticut Construction Industries Association, and the state's construction trade unions created the Connecticut Road Industry Surveillance Project (CRISP). Methods Data from 90 bridge projects from 1991 to 1995 and approximately 2,000 workers were evaluated. The distribution of peak lead concentrations in the blood for CRISP workers classified into five groups were compared to that from workers outside of Connecticut. Results This demonstration project was instrumental in lowering bridge worker blood lead levels. After 1992, only the painting contract employees experienced peak blood lead levels with ≤2% exceeding 50 μg/dl. Compared to similar workers in other states, Connecticut workers had significantly lower peak blood lead levels. Conclusions Two thousand workers and over 120 contractors benefited directly from CRISP. Two key features of the CRISP model differed from the 1993 OSHA standard: a contract‐specified lead health protection program and a centralized system of medical monitoring. These differences may account for the improved protection observed between the CRISP and non‐Connecticut cohorts. Am. J. Ind. Med. 39:243–253, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Characterization of lead in US workplaces using data from OSHA's integrated management information system

“…The process, location, and environment are typically in a state of constant change as opposed to other sectors such as manufacturing where these factors are more static, and more easily controlled through design and engineering. Nonetheless, successful intervention strategies to lower lead exposures among construction have been performed previously [Vork et al, 2001;Materna et al, 2002]. The number of samples for lead and the number of OSHA visits where lead was sampled decreased throughout the 1990s and leveled off in the 2000s to the lowest levels since quantitative sampling results were entered in IMIS.…”

Airborne exposure and soil levels associated with lead abatement of a steel tank

“…M ost of these studies (Froines et al, 1990;Lange and Thomulka, 2000a) have found an AM airborne lead concentration in the range of around 100¡/ 600 m g/m 3 . H owever, higher values have been reported Spee and Zwennis, 1987) and exposure appears to be depend on task, lead concentration in paint, engineering controls, and work practices (Lange and Thomulka, 2000a;Vork et al, 2001). This information supports the requirements of employment of PPE during abatement.…”

“…LBP abatement of steel structures is becoming common in the U nited States (Forst et al, 1997;H immelstein et al, 1993). Previous studies have suggested elevated exposure occurs to workers during abrasive blasting of steel structures with LBP (Conroy et al, 1996;EPA, 1997;Frumkin et al, 1993) and during lead abatement in general (Chambers et al, 1995;Conroy et al, 1996;Forst et al, 1997;G oldberg et al, 1997;Jacobs, 1998;Lange, 2001a,b;Lange and Thomulka, 2000a;Levin et al, 1997;Reynolds et al, 1997;Spee and Zwennis, 1987;Vork et al, 2001). Both air and soil samples were non-normally distributed and appear to better fit a logarithmic distribution.…”

Characteristics of US workers whose blood lead levels trigger the medical removal protection provision, and conformity with biological monitoring requirements, 2003–2005

“…2000; Vork et al, 2001;Whittaker, 2003;Anderson and Islam, 2006]. Under the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) lead standards for General Industry (CFR 1910(CFR .1025 and Construction (CFR 1926.62), if a periodic and a follow-up blood sampling test indicate that the worker's blood lead level (BLL) is !60 mg/dl (or !50 mg/dl for construction), or the average BLL of all tests over a 6-month period (or if there are less than 3 tests over a 6-month period, the average of three consecutive tests) is !50 mg/dl, workers must be removed immediately from further exposure.…”

“…If medically removed, the worker must have blood lead testing performed at least monthly during the removal period. A limited number of studies confined to a specific industry [Jarrett, 2003;Whittaker, 2003] or state of residence [Tumpowsky et al, 2000;Vork et al, 2001;Anderson and Islam, 2006] have reported the distribution of adult BLLs including cases of BLLs !60 mg/dl. To the best of our knowledge, no study has reported the national distribution of workers with BLLs requiring medical removal, nor the level of adherence to OSHA standards once medical removal criteria are met.…”