Nebraska Administrative Code
Topic - HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SYSTEM
Title 178 - ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Chapter 23 - LEAD BASED PAINT ACTIVITIES
Section 178-23-006 - WORK PRACTICE STANDARDS

Universal Citation: 178 NE Admin Rules and Regs ch 23 ยง 006

Current through March 20, 2024

Licensed individuals and firms shall comply with the following when performing any lead-based paint activity.

006.01 GUIDELINES. Every licensed individual and firm shall comply with Department standards and all the requirements as stated in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing 2012 edition. A copy may be inspected at the Division of Public Health of the Department of Health and Human Services, 301 Centennial Mall South, Lincoln, Nebraska 68509 or available on our website. All actions that say "should be conducted" in the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing 2012 edition are required to be completed under these regulations.

006.02 CLEARANCE LEVELS. For post-abatement clearance the maximum level of lead in dust on horizontal surfaces are as follows: floors 10 micrograms per square foot, interior windowsills 100 micrograms per square foot, and window troughs into which the sash fits and exterior surfaces 400 micrograms per square foot using dust wipe sampling methodology.

006.03 CLEARANCE EXAMINATION. A clearance examination can only be conducted by a licensed Inspector, or licensed Risk Assessor.

006.04 ABATEMENT. An abatement shall comply with the requirements in 006.01 and the following:

006.04(A) REQUIRED PERSONNEL. A licensed supervisor is required for each abatement project and must be onsite during all work site preparation and during the postabatement cleanup of work areas. At all other times when abatement activities are being conducted, the licensed supervisor must be onsite or available by telephone, pager or answering service, and able to be present at the work site in no more than two hours.

006.04(B) PROJECT NOTIFICATION. Notification of the commencement of lead-based paint abatement activities in a residential dwelling or child-occupied facility or as a result of a Federal, State, or local order must be given to the Department prior to the commencement of abatement activities.

006.04(C) OCCUPANT PROTECTION PLAN. A written occupant protection plan must be developed for all abatement projects, the occupants must be notified of its availability and it must:
(i) Be unique to each residential dwelling or child-occupied facility and be developed prior to the abatement. It must describe the measures and management procedures that will be taken during the abatement to protect the building occupants from exposure to any lead-based paint hazards.

(ii) Be prepared by a licensed supervisor or project designer, and

(iii) Be available to occupants.

006.04(D) POST ABATEMENT. The following post-abatement clearance procedures can only be performed by a licensed inspector or risk assessor:
(i) Following an abatement, a visual inspection must be performed to determine if deteriorated painted surfaces, or visible amounts of dust, debris or residue are still present. If deteriorated painted surfaces or visible amounts of dust, debris or residue are present, these conditions must be eliminated prior to the continuation of the clearance procedures.

(ii) Following the visual inspection and any post-abatement cleanup required by 178 NAC 23-006.04(D) item (i). Clearance sampling for lead in dust must be conducted. Clearance sampling may be conducted by employing single-surface sampling or composite sampling techniques.

(iii) Dust samples for clearance purposes must be taken using procedures contained in the Housing and Urban Development Guidelines for the Evaluation and Control of Lead-Based Paint Hazards in Housing 2012 edition.

(iv) Dust samples for clearance purposes must be taken a minimum of one hour after completion of final post-abatement cleanup activities.

(v) The following post-abatement clearance activities must be conducted as appropriate based upon the extent or manner of abatement activities conducted in or to the residential dwelling or child-occupied facility:
(1) After conducting an abatement with containment between abated and unabated areas, one dust sample must be taken from one interior windowsill and from one window trough, if present, and one dust sample must be taken from the floor of no less than four rooms, hallways, or stairwells within the containment area. In addition, one dust sample must be taken from the floor outside the containment area. If there are less than four rooms, hallways or stairwells within the containment area, then all rooms, hallways or stairwells must be sampled.

(2) After conducting an abatement with no containment, two dust samples must be taken from no less than four rooms, hallways or stairwells in the residential dwelling or child-occupied facility. One dust sample must be taken from one window, if available, and one dust sample must be taken from the floor of each room, hallway or stairwell selected. If there are less than four rooms, hallways or stairwells within the residential dwelling or child-occupied facility then all rooms, hallways or stairwells must be sampled.

(3) Following an exterior paint abatement, a visible inspection must be conducted. All horizontal surfaces in the outdoor living area closest to the abated surface must be cleaned of visible dust and debris. In addition, a visual inspection must be conducted to determine the presence of paint chips on the dripline or next to the foundation below any exterior surface abated. If paint chips are present, they must be removed from the site and properly disposed of, according to all applicable Federal, State and local requirements.

(vi) The rooms, hallways or stairwells selected for sampling must be selected according to documented methodologies.

(vii) A licensed inspector or risk assessor must compare the residual lead level, as determined by the laboratory analysis, from each single surface dust sample with clearance levels in 178 NAC 23-006.02 for lead in dust on floors, interior windowsills and window troughs or from each composite dust sample with the applicable clearance levels for lead in dust on floors, interior windowsills, and window troughs divided by half the number of subsamples in the composite sample. If the residual lead levels in a single surface dust sample equals or exceeds the applicable clearance level or if the residual lead level in a composite dust sample equal or exceeds the applicable clearance level divided by half the number of subsamples in the composite sample, the components represented by the failed sample must be recleaned and retested until clearance levels are met.

(viii) The clearance levels for lead in dust are 10 µg/ft2 for floors, 100 µg/ft2 for interior windowsills, and 400 µg/ft2 for window troughs.

006.04(E) MULTI-FAMILY DWELLINGS. In a multi-family dwelling with similarly constructed and maintained residential dwellings, random sampling for the purposes of clearance may be conducted provided:
(i) The licensed individuals who abate or clean the residential dwellings do not know which residential dwelling will be selected for the random sample.

(ii) A sufficient number of residential dwellings are selected for dust sampling to provide a 95% level of confidence that no more than 5% or 50 of the residential dwellings (whichever is smaller) in the randomly sampled population exceed the appropriate clearance levels.

(iii) The randomly selected residential dwellings must be sampled and evaluated for clearance according to the procedures found in 178 NAC 23-006.04(D).

006.04(F) ABATEMENT REPORT. An abatement report must be prepared by a licensed supervisor or project designer, and include the following information:
(i) Start and completion dates of abatement.

(ii) The name and address of each licensed firm conducting the abatement and the name of each supervisor assigned to the abatement project.

(iii) The occupant protection plan prepared pursuant to 178 NAC 23-006.04(C).

(iv) The name, address, and signature of each licensed risk assessor or inspector conducting clearance sampling and the date of clearance testing.

(v) The results of clearance testing and all soil analyses, if applicable, and the name of each recognized laboratory that conducted the analyses.

(vi) A detailed written description of the abatement, including abatement methods used, locations of rooms and components where abatement occurred, reason for selecting abatement methods for each component, and any suggested monitoring of encapsulants or enclosures.

006.04(G) SAMPLES. Collection and laboratory analysis of samples: Any paint chip, dust, or soil samples collected pursuant to the work practice standards contained in 178 NAC 23-006 must be:
(i) Collected by persons licensed as an inspector or risk assessor; and

(ii) Analyzed by a laboratory recognized by Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to section 405(b) of Toxics Substance Control Act as being capable of performing analyses for lead compounds in paint chip, dust, and soil samples.

006.05 COMPOSITE DUST SAMPLING. Composite dust sampling may only be conducted in the situations specified in a lead hazard screen, risk assessment, or abatement. If such sampling is conducted, the following must apply:

(A) Composite dust samples must consist of at least two subsamples;

(B) Every component that is being tested must be included in the sampling; and

(C) Composite dust samples must not consist of subsamples from more than one type of component. If the residual lead level in a composite dust sample equals or exceeds the applicable clearance level for lead in dust on floors, interior windowsills, or window troughs, after this clearance level has been divided by half the number of subsamples in the compost sample, the component represented by the failed sample must be cleaned and retested.

006.06 DETERMING THE PRESENCE OF LEAD AND LEAD-BASED PAINT HAZARDS. Lead and lead-based paint hazards must meet the following:

(A) LEAD PAINT. Lead-based paint is present:
(i) On any surface that is tested and found to contain lead equal to or in excess of 1.0 milligrams per square centimeter or equal to or in excess of 0.5% by weight; and

(ii) On any surface that is similar to one tested in the same room equivalent that has a similar painting history and that is found to be lead-based paint.

(B) LEAD PAINT HAZARD. A lead paint hazard is present:
(i) On any friction surface that is subject to abrasion and where the lead dust levels on the nearest horizontal surface underneath the friction surface, are equal to or greater than the dust hazard levels identified in 178 NAC 23-006.06(C);

(ii) On any chewable lead-based paint surface on which there is evidence of teeth marks;

(iii) Where there is damage or otherwise deteriorated lead-based paint on an impact surface that is caused by impact from a related building component; and

(iv) If there is any other deteriorated lead-based paint in any residential building or child-occupied facility or on the exterior of any residential building or child-occupied facility.

(C) DUST LEAD HAZARD. A dust-lead hazard is present:
(i) In a residential dwelling on floors and interior windowsills when the weighted arithmetic mean lead loading for all single surface or composite samples of floors and interior windowsills are equal to or greater than 10 µg/ft2 for floors and 100 µg/ft2 for interior windowsills, respectively;

(ii) On floor or interior windowsills in an unsampled residential dwelling in a multifamily dwelling, if a dust-lead hazard is present on floors or interior windowsills, respectively, in at least one sampled residential unit on the property; and

(iii) On floors or interior windowsills in an unsampled common area in a multi-family dwelling, if a dust-lead hazard is present on floors or interior windowsills, respectively, in at least one sampled common area in the same common area group on the property.

(D) SOIL LEAD HAZARD. A soil-lead hazard is present:
(i) In a play area when the soil-lead concentration from a composite play area sample of bare soil is equal to or greater than 400 parts per million; or

(ii) In the rest of the yard when the arithmetic mean lead concentration from a composite sample, or arithmetic mean of composite samples, or bare soil from the rest of the yard, for each residential building on a property is equal to or greater than 1,200 parts per million.

006.07 RECORDKEEPING. All reports or plans required in 178 NAC 23-006 must be maintained by the licensed firm or individual who prepared the report for no fewer than three years. The licensed firm or individual also must provide copies of these reports to the building owner who contracted for its services.

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