Niagara County Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP)

The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) has been providing technical assistance and evaluation support to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Childhood Lead Poisoning Primary Prevention Program (CLPPPP) since the inception of the initiative in 2007. Each of the 15 grantee programs operates within a unique local landscape that impacts the distinct challenges they face and successes they accomplish.
As a CLPPP Program grantee, the Niagara County CLPPPP program seeks to achieve five goals:
1. Identify housing at greatest risk of lead-based paint hazards.
2. Develop partnerships and community engagement to promote primary prevention.
3. Promote interventions to create lead-safe housing units.
4. Build lead-safe work practices (LSWP) workforce capacity.
5. Identify community resources for lead-hazard control.

Since 2009, Niagara County CLPPPP has worked with property owners to remove lead paint hazards from housing in Niagara County’s target area: ZIP codes 14301, 14303, 14304, and 14305 in the city of Niagara Falls, with a special emphasis on census tracts 202, 204, 205, 206, 209, 211, 212, and 213; ZIP code 14094 in Lockport to include portions of census tracts 235, 236, 238, and 239; and ZIP code 14120 North Tonawanda, in census tract 232. Within these areas, program staff, (one public health sanitarian and two public health technicians) canvass the neighborhood from door to door. Housing units may also be identified for inspection because they are homes of at-risk newborns or pregnant women, homes of children with elevated blood lead levels in the past or children with current blood lead levels between 5–9 or 10–14 μg/dL, or units adjacent to such dwellings. Units can also be referred by Maternal and Child Health Home Visiting programs, code enforcement agencies, or other partner agencies. The program may also inspect in response to requests from owners or tenants.

The program has a two-stage inspection protocol. The first inspection is a visual survey for potential lead-based paint hazards. The program sends the owner of record a notice that includes a complete list of potential hazards in the dwelling and information about the program’s incentives and educational opportunities. Compliance is voluntary at that point as no testing has been done. The letter is followed up by a telephone call within a week to ensure that a hazard removal plan is in place. If no plan is put in place or work is not completed in a timely, acceptable manner, program staff use an XRF (x-ray fluorescence) analyzer to measure the concentration of lead on painted surfaces. The program then sends a Notice and Demand that requires correction of all hazards identified. In some circumstances, staff also use dust wipe samples in inspections.

Lead paint dust created during renovation work can substantially increase children’s exposure to lead. The program works to address this problem by training landlords, homeowners, and contractors in lead-safe work practices. This training focuses on reducing the amount of dust generated during paint-disturbing work, containing any dust generated, and thoroughly cleaning the jobsite after work to remove any lead-contaminated dust.