Change Areas

Employers must also provide employees with a changing area for their protective clothing.

To prevent cross-contamination of the employee's street and work clothing, this area must have two areas:

• Storage facilities for street clothes
• A separate area with facilities for the removal and storage of lead-contaminated protective work clothing and equipment

Employees must use a clean change area to take off street clothes, put on clean protective work clothing, don respirators before beginning work, and change back into street clothes after work.

No lead-contaminated items should enter this area. Additionally, work clothing cannot be worn off the jobsite or be laundered at home. Contaminated clothing can only be taken from the worksite under two circumstances: when being professionally laundered or disposed of. Disposal must follow federal, state, and local regulations.

To learn more about Construction Lead Safety visit our Construction Lead Safety Online Training Certification web page.