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Published on: August 8, 2014
Can half-day trainings motivate small contractors to address lead safety?
David Harrington1, Peter Scholz, Geoffrey Lomax
1Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program, Occupational Health Branch, California Department of Health Services in Oakland, California 94612, USA. dharring@dhs.ca.gov
Abstract:
There is a real need to educate small painting and remodeling contractors about lead-safe work practices to protect the health of occupants (especially small children) and employees. From 1996 to 2000, 34 half-day lead awareness trainings were held throughout California to increase contractors' use of lead-safe practices. Educational methods included focusing on best practices, utilizing a peer educator, and working with stakeholders to do outreach to this hard-to-reach audience. We report on the evaluation of 18 of these seminars where we found that 30% to 49% of the interviewed contractors began doing many of the lead-safe work practices after attendance. We conclude that this program can have a modest impact in areas that contractors are more familiar with; new areas not part of their experience do not fare as well. However, without a more integrated public health educational and enforcement strategy, educational efforts such as ours can have only a limited impact.
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