Workplace Lead Exposure.

ead poisoning causes adverse health L effects in adults and children in a dose-dependent fashion. Workplace lead exposures below the current permissible exposure limit (PEL) that result in blood lead levels (BLLs) much lower than those permitted by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) can cause adverse health effects. To adequately protect American workers, new lead standards based on the most recent data need to be established. The current OSHA lead standard was developed and adopted in the late 1970s when the geometric mean blood lead concentration in the US was 12.8mg/dL. The removal of lead from gasoline, paints, and solder in food cans, as well as other public health measures, greatly reduced population mean BLLs, to the point that by, 2011 to 2012, the mean BLL in adults in the US had fallen to 1.09mg/dL. However, many lead industry workers continue to be exposed to lead at levels which can cause BLLs to greatly exceed these population averages. Many provisions of the current OSHA standard apply only to those workers exposed at the OSHA action level of airborne lead dust 30mg/m as an 8-hour time-weighted average, and mandatory medical removal provisions may not apply until a worker’s BLL equals 50 or 60mg/dL (depending on the setting, eg, in the construction industry or in general industry). For workplace standards to adequately protect workers, they must be updated to reflect current scientific knowledge on the adverse effects of overexposure to lead including the influence of ingested surface lead dust, irrespective of airborne lead concentrations. Clinical and epidemiological studies published in recent decades have