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US EPA Model Lead Inspector Exam Study
Guide.
Lead Inspector - answer✔A certified individual who conducts a surface-by-surface investigation
to determine the presence of lead-based paint.
Lead Risk Assessor Job Description - answer✔Determining the existence, nature, severity, and
location of lead-based paint hazards in an entire residential dwelling or child-occupied facility,
and provides a written report explaining the results of the investigation and options for
reducing lead-based paint hazards to the person requesting the lead inspection.
Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act - answer✔(Title X of the Community
Development and Housing Act of 1992) The federal government began to focus on primary
prevention of lead poisoning through identifying and reducing lead hazards.
Importance of lead poisoning prevention/lead-based paint inspections - answer✔Focus
attention on the sources of lead that could poison children; and reduce the cost of lead hazard
control by identifying which surfaces are coated with lead-based paint.
Lead inspector job description - answer✔Identify the lead-based painted surfaces in housing,
certify the results of an inspection in writing, conduct post-hazard control clearance sampling to
determine: the specified hazard control strategy was conducted, the area is safe for
unprotected workers to enter, and the area is a safe place for residents and young children to
live.
How common is lead pollution? - answer✔Lead-based paint is present in roughly 83% of all
hosing stock in the private sector and in roughly 90% of family housing units in the nation's
housing authorities.
Lead-based paint - answer✔Paint, varnish, shellac, or other coating on surfaces that contain 1.0
mg/cm^2 or more of lead or 0.5% or more lead by weight.
Lead-based paint hazard - answer✔Any condition that causes exposure to lead-contaminated
dust, lead-contaminated-soil, or lead-contaminated paint that is deteriorated or present in
accessible surfaces, friction surfaces, or impact surfaces that would result in adverse human
health effects as identified by the EPA Administrator under TSCA section 403.
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Lead-based paint inspection - answer✔a surface-by-surface investigation to determine the
presence of lead-based paint. A report is then issued that identifies if there is lead-based paint
present and where it is located.
Deteriorated paint - answer✔Any interior or exterior paint that is peeling, chipping, chalking, or
cracking, or is located on an interior or exterior surface of fixture that is damaged or
deteriorated.
Accessible surface - answer✔Surface that protrudes from the surrounding area to the extent
that a child can chew the surface and is within three feet or the floor or ground (e.g., window
sills, railing, and the edges of stair treads)
Friction surface - answer✔An interior or exterior surfaces that is subject to abrasion or friction
(e.g., certain window, floor, and stair surfaces)
Impact surface - answer✔An interior or exterior surface that is subject to damage from
repeated impacts (e.g., certain parts of door frames)
HUD Guidelines - answer✔The primary purpose of the Guidelines is to guide people involved in
identifying and controlling lead-based paint hazards in housing.
What is lead-based paint - answer✔1 milligram per square centimeter (1.0 mg/cm^2) using the
XRF analyzer or 0.5% (or 5,000 parts per million) using laboratory analysis methods
AAS - answer✔Atomic absorption spectrometry
A2LA - answer✔American Association for Laboratory Accreditation
ASTM - answer✔American Society for Testing and Materials
CDC - answer✔Center for disease control and prevention
CFR - answer✔Code of federal regulations
ICP-AES - answer✔Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry
NIOSH - answer✔National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (Dept. of Health)
OSHA - answer✔Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Dept. of Labor)
Pb - answer✔The chemical symbol for lead
TSP - answer✔Trisodium phosphate
RCRA - answer✔resource conservation and recovery act
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History of Lead Use - answer✔Nearly all of the lead in the human environment results from
human activities. Once lead is mined, processed, and introduced into the human environment it
is a potential problem forever. No current technology will destroy it or make it permanently
harmless. However, exposures to lead can be controlled.
The occupational hazards of lead were first reported in 1713 by Bernardo Ramazzini, who
described lead intoxication in potters working with lead glazes.
In 1913, Dr. Alice Hamilton, an American occupations health doctor, wrote about painters and
the hazards of their work.
Why was lead used in paint? - answer✔As a pigment, to add durability and corrosion control,
and as a drying agent.
Sources of environmental lead contamination - answer✔The principal industrial use of lead is in
the manufacture of electrical storage batteries. Other uses include the production of
ammunition, various chemicals, and sinkers for fishing and etc.
Lead exposure - answer✔The major exposure to lead for most adults comes from the work
place (inhalation). Surface dust and soil contamination with lead are the major sources of lead
exposure for infants and young children (ingestion). (Children: drinking water [primarily from
leaded solder, brass fittings and fixtures, and service lines] can contribute to lead poisoning)
Lead paint - answer✔The amount of lead-based paint in housing is significant - approximately
64 million (pre-1978) private U.S. residences contain at least some lead-based paint.
Children ingest lead-based paint by normal hand-to-mouth activity. Young children absorb a
significantly higher percentage of ingested lead than adults. Lead absorption is increased by
malnutrition and poor diet.
Lead in surface dust and soil can come from? - answer✔Weathering and chipping of lead-based
paint, scraping and sanding of lead-based paint in preparation for refinishing, renovations that
break surfaces painted with lead-based paint, abrasion and/or impact on doors and windows,
atmospheric fallout from the combustion of leaded gasoline that was deposited prior to the
phase-down in use, factory emissions, dust and dirt that is carried into the home on shoes and
clothing (especially from factories or construction sites or by pets)
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Lead in water - answer✔Lead-contaminated drinking water also contributes to the overall level
of exposure - from as little as 5 percent to more than 50 percent of a child's total lead exposure.
(NAETI Exam: 20% contribution)
Lead in food - answer✔Contamination from containers with lead solder, lead glaze, or other
materials with lead, by airborne lead from industrial or automobile emissions deposited on to
crops or water, by uptake into food crops from lead in soil or pesticides applications, and doing
transportation or processing.
A phase-out of lead solder in cans began in the late 1970s.
Food containers: lead oxide is sometimes used to manufacture glazes for protecting ceramics
and etc.
Lead in other sources - answer✔Vinyl miniblinds are another potential source of lead in a
residence.
CDC, CPSC, and the public health have identified the following: crayons (imported from Chile),
painted metal playground equipment, pool cue chalk, calcium supplements (made from bone or
oyster shell), some hair dyes (lead acetate)
CPSC - answer✔Consumer Product Safety Commission
Health effects of lead exposure - answer✔The three systems where the effects are most
dangerous are: the central and peripheral nervous system. the cardiovascular system (including
the blood forming system), and the kidneys.
Exposure to high concentrations of lead can cause: retardation, convulsions, coma, and death
(sometimes)
Acute vs Chronic exposure - answer✔acute - exposure for short time at high levels
chronic - exposure to low or moderate levels over a long period of time
INSPECTION IS A CRITICAL FIRST STEP IN SOLVING THE LEAD PROBLEM IN HOMES
THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES. THE PRIMARY SKILL FOR LEAD INSPECTOR TO DEVELOP IS?
- answer✔Documentation of information
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