Clear Cut Results for Lead Paint Testing

Date: 4 May 2020
Author: Hill Laboratories

In previous newsletters, we have noted that lead contamination continues to be an issue of significant interest in New Zealand, with it regularly being mentioned as a hot topic at numerous industry conferences and webinars. To allow our clients to easily identify whether a submitted sample is lead paint or not, we have created a new report format that classifies samples as ‘Lead Paint’ or ‘Lead-free Paint’ as defined by AS/NZS 4361.2:2017. Clients can now see at a glance whether paint samples are of concern, allowing important decisions regarding hazardous paint management to be made as soon as possible.

AS/NZS 4361.2:2017 ‘Guide to hazardous paint management, Part 2: Lead paint in residential, public and commercial buildings’ identifies lead paint as paint containing greater than 0.1% lead by mass in the dry film. Previously, we only reported the Total Recoverable Lead in mg/kg dry wt units. Our new report shows this as well as converting the mg/kg dry wt results into units of % w/w (weight/weight) and compares them to the AS/NZS standard.

Lead may still be present in residential New Zealand houses because of residues from lead-based paint, which was widely used on properties prior to 1965 and was still found in paint used up until the 1980’s. Children are particularly sensitive to elevated lead exposure with their cognitive abilities suffering, so understanding the lead status of paint, especially whether it is present in residential dwellings, is very important.

If you want to find out more about receiving this report format for your lead in paint samples, or discuss options about lead testing in other sample types, please contact us at env.csm@hill-labs.co.nz.