1. Talk to your local Health Department about testing paint and dust in your home for lead if your child lives in a home built before 1978.
2. Don’t renovate, sand, cut or demolish painted surfaces without first determining whether the paint contains high levels of lead.
3. Renovation activities should be performed by certified renovators who are trained by EPA-approved providers to follow lead-safe work practices.
4. Clean areas where you see peeling or chipping paint or dust in windowsills or on floors because of peeling paint.
5. Have your child’s blood lead level monitored by your health care provider as she or he may recommend.
6. If your apartment needs repairs or painting, request that the owner of your building or your managing agent perform that work. It may be helpful to make the request in writing and to indicate that a child six years of age or younger resides in the apartment.
7. If the Department of Health inspects your apartment and finds lead based paint violations and stamps the walls or other surfaces with a red stamp that says “lead” take photographs of the damaged paint conditions in those areas.
8. Make sure your child is not present when work s being done to correct the hazardous lead based paint conditions and after the work has been completed until the dust clearance tests are returned as negative.
9. If the DOH has identified lead based paint hazards in your home and the owner or managing agent is slow to make repairs, keep your child away from those areas in an attempt to avoid continued exposure.
10. Give your child iron rich foods, such as green leafy vegetables, iron supplements, and less or no fried foods to slow lead absorption by the child’s body and to support red cell production in the blood.

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