Occupational lead exposure in Los Angeles County: an occupational risk surveillance strategy

To better understand occupational lead exposures in Los Angeles County, we undertook a questionnaire survey of lead-using industrial facilities not previously identified by county health department staff. Previously our staff had identified 112 lead-using companies with approximately 2,000 lead-exposed workers countywide. For this survey, we developed a database of 1,353 possible lead-using industrial facilities from several sources, including community "right-to-know" databases, air pollution or sewer permit records, or other environmental databases. A questionnaire interview was completed with 1,001 (81%) of these companies, yielding 178 previously unidentified facilities employing 7,734 workers with potentially significant occupational lead exposures. Compliance with the OSHA lead standard was often poor in these facilities, particularly for workplaces with 20 or fewer employees. Devoting more public health resources to targeted identification of such industrial facilities and to educational outreach would likely help control occupational lead exposure.