UCLA staff train residents for jobs testing for lead contamination in their neighborhoods

Staff at the UCLALabor Occupational Safety and Health Program (UCLA-LOSH) are training workers to take part in a multimillion-dollar cleanup of lead contamination at up to 10,000 properties in Los Angeles near the former Exide Technologies lead battery recycling facility in Vernon.For the first phase of this massive operation — taking soil samples at homes, schools, parks, daycare centers and small businesses located in seven southeastern L.A. County communities — UCLA-LOSH staff recently trained 30 people in two weeklong courses to handle hazardous waste safely.All 30 trainees were unemployed or under-employed residents in the affected neighborhoods. Twenty-five of these workers have already been hired by contractors working for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control, the state agency responsible for the cleanup work. The department received $176 million from Gov. Jerry Brown to fund the operation.   One trainee helps another put on her respirator during a field activity.Based on the results of this sampling, the state agency plans to identify at least 2,500 high-priority properties for cleanup of lead contamination caused by air pollution from the Exide battery recycling plant, which closed in March 2015. Exide operated the Vernon facility for more than three decades with outdated pollution controls as well as air quality and hazardous waste violations, according to state officials.Part of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health and the UCLA Institute...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news