Where lead paint is found
HSE says lead pigments were widely used in paints for homes, schools and offices until the 1960s, and lead-containing paints stayed in common use until the early 1980s. Lead paint is often hidden under later coats.
Doors, windows and other woodwork and metalwork painted many times over the decades are the usual places to look. If you regularly remove existing coatings in properties built before the 1980s, HSE says you are among the people most at risk.
Find out before you start
If the building is old enough, treat old paint as possibly containing lead until you know otherwise. A lead test kit, a specialist company or a laboratory can confirm it, but a negative test kit result is not fully reliable.
Also ask whether the paint needs to come off at all. HSE advises stripping back only paint that is flaking or chipping, or that poses a risk to children. Sound paint can usually be overcoated instead.
Why dry sanding and burning are dangerous
Lead gets into the body when you breathe in dust or fume, or swallow it, for example by eating or smoking without washing first. Dry sanding turns old paint into fine dust that hangs in the air and settles everywhere. Burning off with a gas torch or blowlamp, or overheating paint with a heat gun, produces lead fume.
HSE lists the effects of absorbing too much lead as including headaches, tiredness, irritability, stomach pains and anaemia, and, with continued uncontrolled exposure, kidney damage, nerve and brain damage and infertility. Lead in a pregnant woman’s blood can pass into the blood of her unborn baby.
Safer ways to prepare and remove lead paint
- Leave sound paint alone where you can, and overcoat it.
- Work wet. Rub down with wet abrasive paper and keep debris damp so it does not become airborne.
- Use a chemical stripper on paint in poor condition, following the manufacturer’s instructions and the safety data sheet. Strippers containing dichloromethane (DCM, also called methylene chloride) are restricted. HSE says that at transient workplaces, such as homes and construction sites, only people who have been trained and hold a certificate of competence from HSE may use them.
- Keep the heat down. Never use gas torches or blowlamps. If you soften paint with a hot air gun or infrared stripper, HSE advises keeping it below 500°C to avoid producing lead fume. Scrape straight into a container.
- Fit on-tool extraction to any power sander. HSE says passive dust bags on tools are less effective.
- Clean up damp. Remove debris with a damp cloth and avoid dry sweeping, which puts dust back into the air.
Your duties under the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002
The regulations place duties on employers, and HSE says self-employed decorators must take the same steps to protect themselves. In practice that means:
- assessing the risk before work starts and choosing methods that keep exposure as low as possible
- providing the controls, keeping them in good order and making sure they are used
- providing washing and changing facilities, with separate storage for clean and contaminated clothing
- training and supervising the people doing the work
- where exposure is significant, also providing protective clothing, measuring lead in air, providing respiratory protection where needed and arranging medical surveillance
HSE’s sheet for builders recommends disposable overalls and an FFP3 mask for lead paint work. Provide a large sink with warm running water, soap and towels, not a small hand basin. Wash hands and forearms before eating, drinking or smoking, and do not take contaminated work clothing home to wash.
When is exposure “significant”?
Under regulation 2, exposure to lead is significant where:
- someone is, or is liable to be, exposed to lead in the air above half the occupational exposure limit (for lead other than lead alkyls the limit is 0.15 mg/m³ as an 8-hour time-weighted average)
- there is a substantial risk of someone swallowing lead, or
- there is a risk of skin contact with lead alkyls or other lead substances that can be absorbed through the skin.
Blasting, burning and stripping old lead paint are among the jobs HSE says create lead dust and fume. Your competent person should decide, from the risk assessment and any air monitoring, whether exposure is significant.
Medical surveillance
Where exposure is, or is liable to be, significant, regulation 10 requires the employer to put the employee under medical surveillance by a relevant doctor, such as an HSE appointed doctor. It must start, so far as is reasonably practicable, before the work begins and in any event within 14 working days, and be repeated at intervals of no more than 12 months. HSE’s leaflet for workers says blood-lead levels are usually checked every three months. Health records must be kept for at least 40 years.
| Employee | Action level (blood lead) | Suspension level (blood lead) |
|---|---|---|
| Women of reproductive capacity | 25 µg/dl | 30 µg/dl |
| Young persons (under 18) | 40 µg/dl | 50 µg/dl |
| All other employees | 50 µg/dl | 60 µg/dl |
At the action level, find out why and tighten the controls. At the suspension level, the doctor decides whether the person comes off lead work. HSE consulted in 2026 on lowering these blood-lead levels and updating the related guidance, so check HSE’s lead pages for the current figures before relying on this table.
Protecting occupants and children
Children and unborn babies are especially vulnerable to lead. Industry guidance for decorators advises keeping children and pregnant women out of any area where lead surfaces are being disturbed, and keeping other occupants out until cleaning is finished.
- Remove furniture and soft furnishings, or cover them, and sheet floors with plastic sealed with heavy-duty tape.
- Outside, cover soil and plants and do not work in windy conditions.
Waste
Seal lead paint debris, used abrasive paper, cloths, masks and filters in heavy-duty plastic bags. Never burn lead paint waste. As a business you must classify the waste you produce before it is collected, and some waste needs a closer look at what it contains to decide whether it is hazardous. It is illegal to mix hazardous waste with non-hazardous waste. If you are not sure, ask a specialist waste contractor or your environment regulator, and use an authorised carrier.
Put it in the RAMS
A decorating RAMS for an older building should say how lead will be checked, which preparation methods will be used, how the area and the occupants are protected, what RPE and welfare are provided, and how waste is handled. Your competent person should check it against the actual building before work starts.
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if old paint contains lead?
You cannot tell by looking. Use a test kit, a specialist company or laboratory analysis, and remember that a negative test kit result is not fully reliable. In a building old enough to have lead paint, plan as if it is there until you know otherwise.
Can I dry sand lead paint if I wear a mask?
Avoid dry sanding altogether. HSE recommends wet abrading, chemical strippers or low-temperature heat, with on-tool extraction on power tools, plus disposable overalls and an FFP3 mask. A mask is the last line of defence, not a reason to choose a dusty method.
Do self-employed decorators have to follow the lead regulations?
Yes. HSE says self-employed people must take the same steps to protect themselves that an employer takes for employees. That means safe methods, good hygiene, suitable RPE and taking advice from an appointed doctor where exposure could be significant.