Key Terms

Action Level: The level at which certain safety precautions, such as training and monitoring, must be put into place. The action level for lead is 30 micrograms per cubic meter of air.

Blood Lead Level: The amount of lead in a person's blood, measured in micrograms per deciliter of blood.

Fit Factor: A numeric description of how well a respirator fits, represented as a comparison of the amount of a substance inside and outside of the mask.

Permissible Exposure Limit (PEL): The highest concentration of a hazardous substance that workers can legally and safely be exposed to over the course of an eight-hour workday. The PEL for lead is 50 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air averaged over eight hours.

Respiratory Inlet Covering: The portion of a respirator that covers part or all of the user's face and forms a barrier between the user's respiratory tract and an air-purifier or air source, such as a half mask, full facepiece, or hood.

Trigger Tasks: Certain tasks that always require a certain amount of protection if there is lead present.

To learn more about Construction Lead Exposure visit our Cal/OSHA Construction Lead Exposure Online Training web page.