Lead Safety Tips for Your Home and Garden

If your home or gardens are contaminated by lead there are simple steps you can take to reduce elevated blood lead levels:

Personal Tips:

Wash

• hands after playing outside and touching pets
• hands before eating and preparing food
• fruit and vegetables before eating
• toys, dummies and bottles frequently

Nutrition

• eat fruit, vegetables, dairy products and some red meat
• avoid high fat foods and use minimal fat when cooking
• young children need frequent meals and snacks - up to six per day

Home Care:

Home Maintenance

• seal cracks in walls and ceilings
• check toys, cots and chewable items for lead-based paint
• repair peeling or chalking paint
• clean or replace air cooler pads annually
• vacuum once a week using a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter - avoid having children present
• do not renovate with children and pregnant women present

Wet Wipe

• surfaces before preparing food or drinks
• window sills, ledges and flat surfaces at least weekly and after vacuuming
• wet mop rather than sweep floors

Garden and Yard Care:

Children's Play Areas

Children need safe areas in which to play. Plans for your garden should include:-

• Barriers over bare soil, such as grass, garden beds or bark chips.
• Separate areas used by adults for hobbies or activities that may generate sources of lead exposure (eg stripping down old furniture or spray painting of cars).
• Keep painted surfaces that are accessible to children in good repair.
• A cover over the sandpit, particularly if your garden is visited by furry friends.

Barriers

Barriers can be created between the source (in this case, tiny lead particles in the soil) and yourself. In the garden, a barrier over contaminated soils can consist of:

• Plants, ground covers or grasses
• Natural materials (mulch, pine bark, etc)
• Man-made substances (pavers, concrete)

Mulching

• Mulch is an excellent barrier when used correctly. It is important to cover all of the desired surface, and that the mulched area is "topped up" when the material starts to thin out over time.
• Natural materials, such as lawn clippings or fallen leaves, form one of the best types of mulch, and can often be obtained at little or no cost.

Watering

• Watering should be done early in the morning, or in the cool of the late afternoon and early evening. This minimises water wastage and prevents leaf burn.

The Vegetable Garden

In general, the rules applied to other garden beds can be applied to the vegetable garden, and vice versa. Some additional actions that can be followed when growing vegetables are discussed in the following paragraphs.

• Plants

  • Research indicates that some leafy vegetables collect lead-bearing dusts more readily from the environment than other vegetables (lettuce and silverbeet for example.) Such plants, when grown in North Lake Macquarie gardens, are not recommended for consumption by young children or pregnant women.
  • Always remember to thoroughly wash all fruit and vegetables prior to storage and eating. This removes any surface dirt which may contain lead.

• Soils

  • Compost and mulch are excellent, natural ways of improving the nutrient content of your vegetable beds. They can also be very cheap. Compost provides organic matter - which helps to reduce the amount of accessible lead in the soil of vegetable beds. Increased soil quality will also promote vegetable growth.

Gardening Clothes

• After working in the garden you should change into clean clothes and keep your "gardening clothes" apart to wash separately.
• It is particularly important that the shoes you have worn are removed or cleaned prior to entering your home, as they can walk lead bearing dirt onto your clean floor and into your carpets.
• Children who play in the garden should always take their shoes off prior to coming indoors for the same reason. This will also reduce the housework as less dirt will be brought into the home.

Hand Washing

• The importance of washing your hands after being in the garden cannot be emphasised too strongly. Dirt from under the nails, and ingrained dirt should also be washed off - no quick rinses under a tap please!
• Children need to accept washing their hands as a normal way of life, particularly after playing or helping outside. Remember, there are many kinds of germs in all soils