It is important from a health standpoint that future tenants, painters, and construction workers know that lead-based paint is present, even under treated surfaces, in order to take precautions when work is undertaken in areas that will generate lead dust. Whenever mitigation work is completed, it is important to have a clearance test using the dust wipe method to ensure that lead-laden dust generated during the work does not remain at levels above those established by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (see Action Levels Chart). A building file should be maintained and updated whenever any additional lead hazard control work is completed.

Hazards should be removed, mitigated, or managed in the order of their health threat, as identified in a risk assessment (with 1. the greatest risk and 8. the least dangerous):

III. Evaluate options for hazard control in the context of historic preservation standards.

The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties - established principles used to evaluate work that may impact the integrity and significance of National Register properties-can help guide suitable health control methods. The preservation standards call for the protection of historic materials and historic character of buildings through stabilization, conservation, maintenance, and repair. The rehabilitation standards call for the repair of historic materials with replacement of a character-defining feature appropriate only when its deterioration or damage is so extensive that repair is infeasible. From a preservation standpoint, selecting a hazard control method that removes only the deteriorating paint, or that involves some degree of repair, is always preferable to the total replacement of a historic feature.