Lead Poisoning: Lead-based Paint, LeadSurvey, DustSAFE Info.

DustSAFE working combined with in place management practices provide the best way of reducing lead and other toxic dust exposure risks in workplaces, homes, public buildings and outdoor environments.

The idea for DustSAFE emerged from my work, as Founder of the Lead Paint Safety Association (LiPSA), which has provided free advice to protect children and their families from the harms of lead poisoning and lead exposure risks, since 2006.

Instead of a limited focus on lead, how about using lead as a readily identifiable toxic 'marker' for the presence other likely toxic dusts (especially during and after asbestos removal). This breaks away from the limited, 'silo' thinking that has compromised competence; prejudiced construction compliance; and compromised worker and public health for decades.

I now need your help to keep LiPSA going and launch DustSAFE.

Previously, LiPSA was funded by my commercial work as LeadSurvey. Crazily, however, that work dried up - despite lead surveys being an ongoing compliance requirement.

Some will have noticed that the LiPSA.org.uk website is no longer online (mea culpa - I managed to lose it AND the domain :( Not clever), so I look forward to LiPSA.org being its reincarnation.

Some of you already know or, reading between the lines, will have guessed that this coincided with the 'most unexpected journey' of a deeply personal kind - which has been profound, necessary, mind-expanding and a real revelation, with some bumps along the way.

Helping people in general, and children in particular, has always been the over-arching driver. And has been hugely gratifying - especially when a lead-exposed child's Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD) turns out to be a misdiagnosis. Even though lead poisoning and ASD have very similar symptoms, ASD diagnosticians generally do not check for elevated blood lead levels. This is poor practice because ASD increases lead exposure risk behaviours. When combined they can cause each other to spiral unnecessarily. The same could be said of many children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

For a single child lead poisoning incident it is not unusual for LiPSA to receive enquiries, independently, from each of the many parties involved in a particular case. This can include Parents, Schools, Local Authorities, Facilities Managers and, yes, even Public Health England/Health Protection Agency as well as their re-branded successor, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). On this topic, at least, it seems (almost) "all roads lead to Rome"! So, it seems, I've been doing something right.

Reassuringly, in July 2021, UKHSA halved the blood lead level of concern for under-16s and pregnant mothers, from ≥10μg/dL to ≥5μg/dL - not that this seems to have filtered through to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).

In fact few, including the HSE itself, seem willing to accept its (own) advice about painted material:

“...assume it contains lead unless there is good evidence to prove otherwise", and online "...if preparing paintwork lead surveys". (Now removed).

Concerning construction compliance, in 2016 LiPSA had substantial input to the technical re-writing of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) publication 'GE700 Construction Site Safety'. This remains the essential reference, now curated by HSE, for the Site Managers Safety Training Scheme (SMSTS), which I'm proud to say has stood the test of time.

Over the last three years, I've had the opportunity to engage on this issue at the top of the industry, through regular voluntary participation in multiple committees and panels of the Construction Industry and Construction Leadership Councils (CIC and CLC).

For the CIC this includes: Health & Safety; Building Safety; Housing; and Liability. For the CLC this includes the Professional Indemnity Insurance Panel and the Green Construction Board. With high profile projects looming, such as the Palace of Westminster refurbishment and the demolition of the Grenfell Tower, lead hazards and associated non-compliance have the potential to become increasingly politicised - at last.

With so much going on I would love to be able to afford to continue - with your help, no matter how modest, which does not need to be limited to donations. I'm more than happy to get creative.

It would be fabulous to hear from you.

Thank you

Tristan

Tristan Olivier

Founder, LiPSA.org (previously LiPSA.org.uk)

M: 07788 699334

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