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California’s Proposed Lead Regulation
In March, California’s Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board proposed lowering the action level and permissible exposure limit for airborne lead in construction and general industry. Information from the proposal appears below. For further discussion of the proposed regulation, see the article in NewsWatch.
From the Initial Statement of Reasons, issued by the California Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, for the proposed regulation:
“[R]ecent evidence demonstrates that even very low levels of lead exposure can have harmful health effects. Such adverse health effects include high blood pressure, heart disease, decreased kidney function, lower birth weight, reproductive and neurological effects. These harmful effects can occur at levels well below those currently allowed by the regulations.”
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SOURCES
California Department of Industrial Relations: “Lead,” Initial Statement of Reasons (PDF, March 2023).
California Department of Industrial Relations: “Lead,” Notice/Informative Digest (PDF, March 2023).
California Department of Industrial Relations: Proposed State Standard, Title 8, Division 1, Chapter 4 (PDF, March 2023).