NCLSH: San Francisco Dust/Debris Standards

San Francisco Lead-Based Paint Ordinance

Comprehensive local ordinances such as these help to protect children such as this.

Effective January 5, 1998, legislation was passed by the Board of Supervisors and signed by the Mayor which amends the San Francisco Building Code (SFBC Ch. 36). The new ordinance governs activities that disturb or remove painted surfaces on the exterior of the buildings and steel structures built before December 31, 1978. The owner or the contractor must:

notify affected parties before work begins;
use containment barriers;
prevent lead paint from going beyond the containment barriers;
remove visible lead paint chips and dust before completing work.

It is the owner's responsibility to:

notify residential tenants three business days before work begins
provide residential tenants with the US EPA pamphlet "Protect Your Family from Lead In Your Home";

The owner or the contractor must:

notify the Department of Building Inspection before work begins;
notify contract and subcontract bidders of any paint inspection reports before bid submittal;
post a "Lead Work In Progress" sign if containment is needed to prevent lead paint from migrating to another property, and remove when work is complete. Where signage is not possible, a letter is to be provided to neighbors.

Copies of necessary forms and signs may be downloaded from the Department of Public Health's website at www.nettop.com/sfeh

Building exteriors do not have to be tested for lead, but if the building was built before 1979, lead paint must be presumed to be present. Open flame burning or torching, including propane fueled heat grids; scraping, sanding, grinding, abrasive blasting or sandblasting without containment or a HEPA local vacuum exhaust tool; uncontrolled hydroblasting or high pressure wash; and heat guns operating above 1,700 F are prohibited.

The responsible party will face one or more penalties if they do not comply:

notice to correct violations up to three days
notice to stop work immediately and work not be resumed without authorization
inspection by a certified risk assessor before work resumes
administrative civil penalties of up to $500 per day per violation
fees to cover the cost of City Agency's enforcement activities
attendance at training approved by the State Department of Health Services in lead related construction (in lieu of monetary penalty for first violation.

For questions regarding the Exterior Led Paint Work Practices Ordinance, contact the Department of Building Inspection, Lead Hazard Reduction Program at (415) 558-6598.

To download a copy of this ordinance, click the link below.

Publications

You may download the San Francisco Lead-Based Paint Ordinance in Acrobat (.pdf) format. (File size 49k.)

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