Lead Hazard Surveillance Using an Environmental Reporting Database

Abstract

Abstract This article describes the use of an environmental reporting database to identify potential lead exposure hazards in companies listing lead in their inventory of reportable chemicals in the workplace. The findings provide insight into the prevalence of underreporting of elevated blood lead levels that occurs in occupational lead surveillance systems which utilize laboratory reporting. We identified over 6000 companies reporting lead on the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection—Right To Know survey and contacted 701 companies believed to have potential for occupational lead exposure. Unidentified cases of employee elevated blood lead levels and subsequent underreporting of these cases by clinical laboratories do not appear to be a significant problem in the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services lead surveillance system among companies self-reporting lead inventories to the state's Department of Environmental Protection. The uses and limitations of environmental databases ...