Ulster 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 Ulster 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 2010, Ulster County CLPPPP has worked with property owners to remove lead paint hazards from housing in the target areas within the 12401 ZIP code, as well as owner-occupied and rental units across Ulster County where children have been identified with an elevated blood lead level of 10–14 μg/dL. Priority is given to those dwellings in which children under six years of age and pregnant women reside. Properties identified for inspection include but are not limited to properties referred by partners such as Maternal and Child Health Home Visiting programs, City of Kingston code enforcement, Rural Ulster Preservation Company (RUPCO), and physician’s offices; properties for which owners or tenants have requested inspections; properties that have been identified by program staff through door-to-door canvassing or observations of deteriorated paint; rental units of recipients of DSS or Section 8 funds; and housing units having a history of children with elevated blood-lead levels and other units in the same building, as well as units in which children with blood-lead levels of 10–14 μg/dL currently reside. Rental properties are the primary focus, although owner-occupied single-family properties are inspected at owners’ requests as long as they understand and agree to comply with the program protocols.

The program employs a two-tiered strategy that includes both visual assessments and XRF inspections conducted by a licensed risk assessor. Visual and XRF analyses are conducted by program staff, who perform 99% of inspections. Additional inspections were conducted by or in cooperation with community partners, the Building Safety Division of the City of Kingston Fire Department, and RUPCO, who performs visual-only inspections. When an exterior-only visual inspection is performed, efforts are made by CLPPPP staff to gain access to the building’s interior to perform XRF measurements of painted surfaces to determine if interior hazards exist. The program provides a free dust clearance test for compliant property owners after remediation work is completed. When the unit passes the dust clearance test, the case is closed. Owners are advised that ongoing maintenance of the painted surfaces is required. The program provides residents and landlords with educational materials and incentives to encourage participation and cooperation.

Lead paint dust created during renovation work can substantially increase children’s exposure to lead.
Ulster County addresses this problem by training landlords, homeowners, and contractors in leadsafe work practices. Free classes teach individuals to reduce the amount of dust generated during paint disturbing work, contain any dust generated, and how to clean the jobsite thoroughly to remove any lead-contaminated dust. The program has provided a variety of lead-safe trainings since 2011 including eight-hour lead -safe work practices classes, four-hour Renovation, Repair, and Painting refresher classes, and trainings on visual lead inspection techniques.