Client Description: Electronics Manufacturing Facility

The primary objective of this survey was to establish employee exposure potentials to inorganic lead through surface dust contact during lead soldering operations at select work areas. Five surface dust s amples were collected for inorganic lead concentrations using 15 centimeter x 15 centimeter Ghost Wipe ^TM moist wipes . These samples were collected from the potential surfaces that the employees most frequently come in contact with based on field observations. The samples were individually analyzed along with a blank (identical sampling media which was not subjected to any surface dust) for inorganic lead dust content by flame inductively coupled argon plasma (ICP) in accordance with EPA Method SW846- 6010B/C at a laboratory accredited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) National Lead Laboratory Accreditation Program (NLLAP) by successfully participating in the Environmental Lead Proficiency Analytical Testing (ELPAT) Program that is established by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA), and EPA.

The data recorded in the sampled areas showed surface dust with inorganic lead at levels ranging from 44 to 2070 micrograms of lead in dust per square foot (µg/ft 2 ). At the time of the survey, no regulations addressing inorganic lead in surface dust in commercial facilities existed in that nation. Therefore, HygieneTech cited the guidelines established by the U.S. EPA that target housing and child-occupied facilities, which state that lead is considered a hazard when e qual to or exceeding 40 µg/ft 2 on floors, 250 µg/ft 2 on interior windowsills, and 400 µg/ft 2 in window troughs. According to the referenced guidelines, the dust-lead level should be less than these applicable standards involving those surfaces in order to pass clearance . Note that those guidelines established by the U.S. EPA are nearly identical to Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, Division 1, Chapter 8, Section 35035 (T17, CCR, § 35035), Lead-Contaminated Dust, which states a standard for “lead-contaminated dust”containing an amount of lead equal to, or in excess of, 40 µg/ft 2 for interior floors, 250 µg/ft 2 for interior horizontal surfaces, and 400 µg/ft 2 for exterior floor and exterior horizontal surfaces.

Based on the lead surface results, HygieneTech concluded that the end-of-shift cleaning procedure may not in all cases be sufficient to reduce surface lead levels below the recommended guideline concentrations. All surfaces having data above the cited target criteria and all other areas that have potentially high levels of inorganic lead dust were recommended to be cleaned thoroughly using vacuums having high efficiency particulate air filtration following by wet method cleaning. All such work should be performed under controlled conditions using properly trained personnel to prevent exposure to and resultant contamination from inorganic lead dust.