Attention all Perth home renovators, DIY enthusiasts, builders and handymen (and handy women!)… you may be at risk.
Everyone knows about the dangers of working with asbestos, but another common household substance – lead – can be equally as risky. Exposure to lead can be harmful to your health, causing long-term problems.
Lead dust from the paint in older buildings is the most common source – so people working in the building industry, demolition and renovation of older homes and buildings can be at greater risk. Lead dust also affects everyone living in the home – including pets – with younger children and pregnant women at greater risk.
Older homes are more likely to have lead-based paint. Lead-based paint was common until the 1970s, and while it doesn’t pose a problem if it is intact, problems occur when buildings deteriorate. Lead dust can also be found in attics, cavity walls and under the floorboards, so the risk of contamination increases if people are renovating their home in ways that involve demolishing ceilings and cavity walls, adding another storey, putting in an attic ladder or intruding into the roof space eg installing a skylight.
Lead dust is also created when lead-based paint is dry scraped, sanded or heated up. Dust can also form when painted surfaces grind together, such as windows and window sills, old painted furniture etc. Some hardware stores in some areas do sell DIY testing kits, but when it comes to eliminating the problem, it’s best to call in the professionals and to use hazardous dust machines for lead dust extraction.
Painting over the hazard isn’t going to solve the problem. The problem has to be physically removed ie with a hazardous dust vacuum, so if you’re building, renovating or simply living in an older home, it’s best to call in the experts or make sure you have the proper equipment.
These hazardous dust machines are manufactured to extremely high safety standards, are tough and hard-wearing, lightweight yet vitually indestructible. They can be moved around easily and have special features that enable them to reach into confined areas such as inside a ceiling or roof.
The growing awareness of the risks of lead dust has led to increased demand for hazardous dust machines for lead, a Perth supplier claims – plus the machines are also used in a variety of other cleaning applications such as the building industry, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and hospitals. And on the subject of hospitals, it’s interesting to note that in Australia, in nearly all of the cases where children had been admitted to hospital for treatment for lead poisoning, the lead had come from dust during home renovations – news that every builder and parent should heed.
If this has given you food for thought, and you’re chewing on your lead pencil as you digest it…. don’t panic! There is no lead in ‘lead’ pencils – the black stuff is graphite and they’re totally safe. But the same may not be said for your home or your building project, so when it comes to cleaning up hazardous dust, make sure you do it properly.