Lead as a Health Hazard. Lead poisoning is recognized as a serious environmental health hazard facing children today. Even at low levels of exposure, much lower than previously believed, lead can impair the development of a child's central nervous system, causing learning disabilities, and leading to serious behavioral problems. Lead enters the environment as tiny lead particles and lead dust disburses when paint chips, chalks, peels, wears away over time, or is otherwise disturbed. Ingestion of lead dust is the most common pathway of childhood poisoning; lead dust gets on a child’s hands and toys and then into a child’s mouth through common hand- to-mouth activity. Exposures may result from construction or remodeling activities that disturb lead paint, from ordinary wear and tear of windows and doors, or from friction on other surfaces. Ordinary construction and renovation or repainting activities carried out without lead- safe work practices can disturb lead-based paint and create significant hazards. Improper removal practices, such as dry scraping, sanding, or water blasting painted surfaces, are likely to generate high volumes of lead dust. Because the Contractor and its employees will be providing services for the District, and because the Contractor's work may disturb lead-containing building materials, CONTRACTOR IS HEREBY NOTIFIED of the potential presence of lead-containing materials located within certain buildings utilized by the District. All school buildings built prior to 1978 are presumed to contain some lead-based paint until sampling proves otherwise.
