Agenda - Council - 02/11/2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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V FL- - rULJU11Ut1J ! 2tJtLI11G - JCLLIU11 LL1C fact that a new ventilation system was installed early in the study, the researchers found levels of lead in the range's air 40 times those set in the applicable federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) safety standard. According to a study author, those levels were low compared to other indoor ranges examined by Colorado public health officials. None of the 17 trainees had elevated blood levels before the class, but 15 had elevated levels after the training, eight of those above the OSHA threshold requiring medical monitoring. Private firing ranges in Colorado all refused requests by the researchers to test blood levels of their patrons. But the researchers concluded that "frequent users would be at risk for developing elevated blood lead levels and adverse health effects from the lead exposure.' 46 Risk to families and other third party nonparticipants. Because lead dust settles on clothing, shoes, and accessories worn or used at the range, the families of persons who work at or use firing ranges are also subject to "take-home" exposure to lead dust.47 This can cause secondary lead poisoning, particularly in children.48 This risk may not be obvious, but it is no less real —shooters can even contaminate their children's clothing by washing them together with the clothes they wore to the range. "If you take your clothing home, you actually contaminate the family clothing when you wash it (together)," a New Hampshire police captain and range instructor warned.49 A 1996 National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) lead health hazard evaluation of firing range activities at the FBI Academy's Firearms Training Unit found significantly higher levels of lead in the carpets of the dormitory rooms of FBI students as compared to the rooms of nonstudents. The study concluded, "FBI students may be contaminating their living quarters with lead," and that "a potential problem of 'take-home' lead exposure of families of firearms instructors was found."5° Persons who spend time in the same building in which a firing range is located will be exposed to lead dust from the range unless special precautions are taken. These include totally isolating the range's ventilation system from the rest of the building and ensuring a negative air pressure in the range so that lead dust does not escape into adjacent offices or work areas, in which a positive air pressure should be maintained to keep lead dust out.51 In any case, lead residue from inadequately designed old ranges may still be found in building air ducts long after the range has been retired.52 This risk is especially acute in the case of firing ranges located within schools, a topic addressed in more detail below. Air exhausted from an indoor shooting range can also threaten third parties. For example, a day- care center in Clearwater, Florida, was forced to close and the children were required to have blood tests after it was discovered that a neighboring indoor shooting range was venting lead - contaminated air into the center's playground area. Lead levels just outside the range's exhaust fan were found to be 8,000 times higher than the acceptable level set by the Pinellas County's Department of Environmental Management, and those in the soil near the border between the range and the daycare center were about 40 times the acceptable level. The proprietor of the private shooting range was reported to be "shocked" by the revelation, arguing that the ventilation system had been inspected by health officials 10 years earlier when the range was built.53 (As is described in more detail below, poor maintenance of such ventilation systems is a major problem for indoor ranges.) Construction employees who work on firing ranges may also be exposed to lead contamination, especially since they may not be aware of the danger when working in older buildings. California health officials have seen "some serious lead poisoning cases among construction employees engaged in demolition of a firing range, as well as among these employees' children."54 Exposure of Children at Indoor School Ranges. Given the vast amount of effort devoted to protecting children from lead in paint in recent decades, it may come as a shock to parents to learn that schools all over the country are exposing children to lead contamination from indoor firing http://www.vpc.org/studies/leadone.htm 2/5/2014