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Monday, May 14, 2007

Screening for lead in new employees

DUE DILIGENCE AND NEW HIRE LEAD-TESTING

Federal law requires that painting contractors inform ALL potential customers of the risk of lead poisoning/exposure when working on housing stock built before 1978. This law is designed to protect the homeowner from the risks associated with lead dust during renovation, including painting.

How ironic that the law is limited to protection of the homeowner and does nothing to ensure the protection of the professionals involved in the work.

It would be instructive and valuable if each and every employee was required to read and sign off on a ‘THE HAZARDS OF BEING A PAINTER WHEN WORKING AROUND LEAD PAINT’ form each and every time they are exposed to the same risk.

Since this is not required, it is important that we business owners do what we can to ensure best practices in the field. The first step in any lead awareness protocol has to start with lead testing of each employee. At Catchlight, in conjunction with the mandatory drug testing of new hires, we request bloodwork that reports the lead and zinc levels of the new employee. We find here in New England that almost 20% show elevated and ‘actionable’ levels.

‘Actionable’ in this instance has two meanings;
1) immediate restrictions on further exposure to lead dust to allow levels to fall to ‘normal’, with or without medical intervention(since the testing is done at hiring, our company is not liable for medical remediation costs; these are the responsibility of the previous employer, which in our industry often means Worker’s Compensation, since the average ‘employer’ carries no insurance…);
2) our own responsibility is the immediate education and training of the new hire in safe work practices;

Implementing this level of testing and establishing a baseline for each employee reflects not a magnanimous generosity on the employer’s behalf; it is merely due diligence. Failure to test exposes the company to the risks and costs associated with medical remediation of the affected employee, as there is no proof that the exposure came before the date of hire.

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