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Protecting Miners from Lead Hazards - Health Alert

Lapse in Appropriations

For workplace safety and health, please call 800-321-6742; for mine safety and health, please call 800-746-1553; for Job Corps, please call 800-733-5627 and for Wage and Hour, please call 1-866-487-9243 (1 866-4-US-WAGE).  This website is currently not being updated due to the suspension of Federal government services. The last update to the site was 10/1/2025.  Updates to the site will start again when the Federal government resumes operations.

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Health Alert

Protecting Miners from Lead Hazards

Mining processes can generate dangerous concentrations of lead, a metal that can cause damage to the nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive system if inhaled or ingested.

Work areas where miners work that have high lead concentrations

How to Avoid Lead Exposure:

  • Wear an air-purifying respirator with high-efficiency filters in all work areas that have exposure to lead dust or fumes.
  • Be clean shaven and fit tested to ensure maximum respirator efficiency.
  • Change into clean work clothes and shoes before beginning work each day.
  • Eat or drink in areas free of lead dust and fumes.
  • Wash your hands and face before you eat or drink.
  • Vacuum your work clothes and shoes before you eat or drink and before you remove them.
  • Launder your clothes at work. If you must take work clothes home, wash and dry them separately.
  • Avoid raising lead dust with dry sweeping or compressed air.
  • Use a HEPA vacuum and/or wet mopping for cleaning floors and surfaces.
  • Conduct training on the hazards of lead and the precautions needed to protect miners.

If you work with or around lead containing materials, you should be enrolled in a medical surveillance program and be tested for lead in your blood.

YOUR FAMILY CAN GET SICK IF YOU 
TAKE HOME LEAD DUST ON YOUR 
CLOTHES AND SHOES.