EPA Finalizes Stronger Requirements for Dust-Lead Hazards
A new final rule issued today by EPA strengthens requirements related to identifying and cleaning up dust-lead hazards in homes and childcare facilities built before lead paint was banned in 1978. Under the new rule, any reportable level of lead in dust as analyzed by a laboratory recognized by the agency’s National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program is considered hazardous. The rule also lowers the amount of lead that can remain in dust on floors, windowsills, and window troughs following abatement to 5 µg/ft2, 40 µg/ft2, and 100 µg/ft2, respectively. EPA describes these new amounts as “the lowest levels that can be reliably and quickly measured in laboratories.”
The rule decouples the standard for the reportable level of lead in dust and the amount of lead that can remain in dust after abatement, which the agency historically set to be the same. The pre-publication copy of the new rule (PDF) outlines changes to the terms for these levels: dust-lead hazard standards will now be referred to as “dust-lead reportable levels,” and dust-lead clearance levels will now be described as “dust-lead action levels,” which will be used to determine when EPA recommends abatement work and when abatement can be considered complete.
EPA’s new rule also revises the definition of abatement. The agency’s recommendation for action related to lead in dust will now apply “when dust-lead loadings are at or above the action levels, rather than the hazard standards, as has been the case historically.” When dust-lead hazards or lead-based paint are present in an area below the action levels, EPA recommends best practices like using a vacuum with a high-efficiency particulate air filter on items including furniture as well as “regularly cleaning hard surfaces with a damp cloth or sponge and a general all-purpose cleaner.”
EPA estimates that the final rule will reduce the lead exposures of up to nearly 1.2 million people per year, including approximately 178,000 to 326,000 children under the age of six. For more information, read the news release on the EPA website or see the agency’s page on the final rulemaking.
