BEWARE!!!
Recently a painting contractor on the south Coast was undertaking some renovation works on the outside of a weatherboard clad house. Without much thought to lead paint being present, he begun to attack the boards with a disk grinder and sand paper.
After working most of the day, he received a visit from his local WorkCover inspector who promptly told him to stop and took away samples of the paint to be tested for lead. The contractor was also told to have the paint tested. Sure enough, there was lead present.
As such, the neighbours (who reported the incident to WorkCover due to dust getting on their washing) have moved out into a hotel, as did the owners of the house. All soft furnishings in both houses has had to be removed and replaced along with the carpet, kids toys, lounge suite and so forth (lead dust cannot be removed from soft furnishings). The soil had to be removed to a depth of 300mm around both properties as it was also contaminated.
The cost of the claim against the contractor was denied by the insurance company due to a claim of negligence against him.
This contractor has now closed his business. Both families have full intentions of taking legal actions as elevated lead levels in the children and adults and in both properties were found.
It just goes to show that Lead Paint Management should still be a top priority for painting and decorating contractors, with a recent spate of prosecutions under the Environmental Protection Act & WorkCover NSW such as this case.