lead paint dust is a serious hazard for infants, small children, babies & in the womb. They need to be protected from it..... period. On older folks like us, you'd have to have a serious occupational exposure for some time, before it became a problem. We had 2 iron workers in their mid 60's doing pre-rip out work at a major car manufacturing plant...... they either cut out structural gussets, or members, or welded on to existing structural pieces.
They had gotten to old to tie re-bar, and no longer connected on the red iron. but were both certified welders.......... they'd sit crouched over their work & the lead paint fumes were directed up under their welding hoods to their mouths & noses for 8-10 hours a day ... for weeks & weeks. One night one of them collapsed on the ground/(concrete floor) , by the time the company medics& ambulance got there the 2nd guy was woozie too. Thankfully the company paramedics loaded both up in ambulances and another Local 10 Ironworker KC, Mo. accompanied each ironworker to North Kansas City Hospital's ER.
Where they got very lucky was one of the ER doc's had just completed a refresher for his yearly retraining and he had chosen Occupational Medicine. He asked what the 2 men did for a living & then went out to talk to the ironworkers out front. they told him of the hard cutting & burning on structural iron...... the two men got even luckier that NKC Hospitsal had someone in the lab that night that knew how to process Blood lead level tests.. one man had fatal levels & the other was near fatal levels............He immediately started chelation treatment for both men....... and made sure that BLL's (blood Lead Levels) were taken on anyone cutting on, or welding on any structural member/piece....
After that, the car manufacturing plant had us go in & remove the lead paint from each piece that needed to be welded on, or cut on............ We'd go in on Friday evenings aftr they shut off the lines, and their crew had left.... we'd then set up an area and we had 2 of their foremen & 2 of ours to go mark each piece....they each had plans to show what had to be done.......... We'd work nearly straight thru until early Sunday eve, but by 6:00pm I want to say, every piece of our equipment had to be gone from the plant & we had to have all trucks away from the loading docks.
My certification is long since lapsed but I was a Class II Missouri & Kansas Contractor/Supervisor on both Lead & asbestos.. On this I know of where I speak.......
Try to cast your bullets/sinkers etc. outside...... with a good fan blowing on you from the back forward..........I prefer to wear a decent old cotton long sleeved shirt, buttoned at the wrists. I do not wear gloves when I cast, nor do I require my now 15 yr old grandson who helps cast & size to wear gloves either. Both of us wear construction OSHA grade safety glasses.. and I have the bathroom sink in the basement mud room set up with Dawn dish soap cut 1-4 & I have an old green scrub pad handy, and it is mandatory that your hands & face are washed thouroughly before drinking or eating (on him).......... (or to smoke for me, I used to until my cancer returned in 2013).
Do not let small children or pregnant moms around areas where you cast. It helps that Nick takes great pride in his appearance & he washes up without being told.
