Control of Lead Poisoning - NYS Public Health Law, Title 10 of Article 13

Notice

The information contained on this website is not the official version of the New York State Public Health Law. No representation is made as to its accuracy. To ensure accuracy and for evidentiary purposes, reference should be made to the official version available on the New York State Legislature Web site. Click on the link for "Laws of New York" and then the link for "PBH Public Health".

Amended April 7, 2009

Section

§ 1370. Definitions

When used in this title, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings, unless the context clearly requires otherwise:

  • 1. "Dwelling" means a building or structure or portion thereof, including the property occupied by and appurtenant to such dwelling, which is occupied in whole or in part as the home, residence or sleeping place of one or more human beings and shall, without limiting the foregoing, include child care facilities for children under six years of age, kindergartens and nursery schools.

  • 2. "Area of high risk" means an area designated as such by the commissioner or his representative and consisting of one or more dwellings in which a condition conducive to lead poisoning of children is present.

  • 3. "A condition conducive to lead poisoning" means: (i) paint or other similar surface-coating material containing lead in a condition accessible for ingestion or inhalation or where peeling or chipping of the paint or other similar surface-coating material occurs or is likely to occur; and (ii) other environmental conditions which may result in significant lead exposure.

  • 4. "Program" means the lead poisoning prevention program in the department established pursuant to section thirteen hundred seventy-a of this title.

  • 5. "Council" means the advisory council on lead poisoning prevention established pursuant to section thirteen hundred seventy-b of this title.

  • 6. "Elevated lead levels" means a blood lead level greater than or equal to ten micrograms of lead per deciliter of whole blood or such blood lead level as may be established by the department pursuant to rule or regulation.

  • 7. "Person" means any natural person

§ 1370-a. Lead poisoning prevention program

  • 1. The department shall establish a lead poisoning prevention program. This program shall be responsible for establishing and coordinating activities to prevent lead poisoning and to minimize risk of exposure to lead. The department shall exercise any and all authority which may be deemed necessary and appropriate to effectuate the provisions of this title.

  • 2. The department shall:

    • (a) promulgate and enforce regulations for screening children and pregnant women, including requirements for blood lead testing, for lead poisoning, and for follow up of children and pregnant women who have elevated blood lead levels;

    • (b) enter into interagency agreements to coordinate lead poisoning prevention, exposure reduction, identification and treatment activities and lead reduction activities with other federal, state and local agencies and programs;

    • (c) establish a statewide registry of lead levels of children provided such information is maintained as confidential except for (i) disclosure for medical treatment purposes; (ii) disclosure of non-identifying epidemiological data; and (iii) disclosure of information from such registry to the statewide immunization information system established by section twenty-one hundred sixty-eight of this chapter; and

    • (d) develop and implement public education and community outreach programs on lead exposure, detection and risk reduction.

  • 3. The department shall identify and designate areas in the state with significant concentrations of children identified with elevated blood lead levels as communities of concern for purposes of implementing a childhood lead poisoning primary prevention program, and may, within amounts appropriated, provide grants to implement approved programs. The commissioner of health of a county or part-county health district, a county health director or a public health director and, in the city of New York, the commissioner of the New York city department of health and mental hygiene, shall develop and implement a childhood lead poisoning primary prevention program to prevent exposure to lead-based paint hazards for the communities of concern in their jurisdiction. The department shall provide funding to the New York city department of health and mental hygiene or county health departments to implement the approved work plan for a childhood lead poisoning primary prevention program. The work plan and budget, which shall be subject to the approval of the department, shall include, but not be limited to:

    • (a) identification and designation of an area or areas of high risk within communities of concern;

    • (b) a housing inspection program that includes prioritization and inspection of areas of high risk for lead hazards, correction of identified lead hazards using effective lead-safe work practices and, appropriate oversight of remediation work;

    • (c) partnerships with other county or municipal agencies or community-based organizations to build community awareness of the childhood lead poisoning primary prevention program and activities, coordinate referrals for services, and support remediation of housing that contains lead hazards;

    • (d) a mechanism to provide education and referral for lead testing for children and pregnant women to families who are encountered in the course of conducting primary prevention inspections and other outreach activities; and

    • (e) a mechanism and outreach efforts to provide housing inspections for lead hazards upon request. The commissioner of health of a county or part-county health district, a county health director or a public health director and, in the city of New York, the commissioner of the New York city department of health and mental hygiene, shall also enter into an agreement or subcontract with a municipal government regarding inspection of the paint conditions in dwellings built prior to nineteen hundred seventy-eight for the area defined as the community of concern and may, when qualified staff exists, designate the local housing maintenance code enforcement agency in which the community of concern is located as an agency authorized to administer the provisions of this title pursuant to subdivision one of section thirteen hundred seventy-five of this title. A portion of grant funding received to support the local primary prevention plan may be used to reduce barriers to lead testing of children and pregnant women within the communities of concern, including the purchase of lead testing devices and supplies when the need for such resources is identified within the community. The commissioner, the commissioner of health of a county or part-county health district, a county health director or a public health director and, in the city of New York, the commissioner of the New York city department of health and mental hygiene, is authorized to enter into agreements, contracts, subcontracts or memoranda of understanding with, and provide technical and other resources to, local health officials, local building code officials, real property owners, and community organizations in such areas to create and implement policies, education and other forms of community outreach to address lead exposure, detection and risk reduction. Primary prevention plans shall target children less than six years of age living in the highest risk housing in the communities of concern identified. The plans shall also take into consideration the extent the weatherization assistance program and other such programs can be used in conjunction with lead-based paint hazard risk reduction. Funding provided for this program shall be used for the activities described in this section and shall not be used for other activities required by this title.

§ 1370-b. Advisory council on lead poisoning prevention

  • 1. The New York state advisory council on lead poisoning prevention is hereby established in the department, to consist of the following, or their designees: the commissioner; the commissioner of labor; the commissioner of environmental conservation; the commissioner of housing and community renewal; the commissioner of children and family services; the commissioner of temporary and disability assistance; the secretary of state; the superintendent of insurance; and fifteen public members appointed by the governor. The public members shall have a demonstrated expertise or interest in lead poisoning prevention and at least one public member shall be representative of each of the following: local government; community groups; labor unions; real estate; industry; parents; educators; local housing authorities; child health advocates; environmental groups; professional medical organizations and hospitals. The public members of the council shall have fixed terms of three years; except that five of the initial appointments shall be for two years and five shall be for one year. The council shall be chaired by the commissioner or his or her designee.

  • 2. Members of the advisory council shall serve without compensation for their services, except that each of them may be allowed necessary and actual expenses which he or she shall incur in the performance of his or her duties under this article.

  • 3. The council shall meet as often as may be deemed necessary to fulfill its responsibilities. The council shall have the following powers and duties:

    • (a) To develop a comprehensive statewide plan to prevent lead poisoning and to minimize the risk of human exposure to lead;

    • (b) To coordinate the activities of its member agencies with respect to environmental lead policy and the statewide plan;

    • (c) To recommend the adoption of policies with regard to the detection and elimination of lead hazards in the environment;

    • (d) To recommend the adoption of policies with regard to the identification and management of children with elevated lead levels;

    • (e) To recommend the adoption of policies with regard to education and outreach strategies related to lead exposure, detection, and risk reduction;

    • (f) To comment on regulations of the department under this title when the council deems appropriate;

    • (g) To make recommendations to ensure the qualifications of persons performing inspection and abatement of lead through a system of licensure and certification or otherwise;

    • (h) To recommend strategies for funding the lead poisoning prevention program, including but not limited to ways to enhance the funding of screening through insurance coverage and other means, and ways to financially assist property owners in abating environmental lead, such as tax credits, loan funds, and other approaches; and

    • (i) To report on or before December first of each year to the governor and the legislature concerning the previous year's development and implementation of the statewide plan and operation of the program, together with recommendations it deems necessary and the most currently available lead surveillance measures, including the actual number and estimated percentage of children tested for lead in accordance with New York state regulations, including age-specific testing requirements, and the actual number and estimated percentage of children identified with elevated blood lead levels. Such report shall be made available on the department's website.

§ 1370-c. Screening by health care providers

  • 1. The department is authorized to promulgate regulations establishing the means by which and the intervals at which children and pregnant women shall be screened for elevated lead levels. The department is also authorized to require screening for lead poisoning in other high risk groups.

  • 2. Every physician or other authorized practitioner who provides medical care to children or pregnant women, shall screen children or refer them for screening for elevated lead levels at the intervals and using the methods specified in such regulations. Every licensed, registered or approved health care facility serving children including but not limited to hospitals, clinics and health maintenance organizations, shall ensure, by providing screenings or by referring for screenings, that their patients receive screening for lead at the intervals and using the methods specified in such regulations

  • 3. The health practitioner who screens any child for lead shall give a certificate of screening to the parent or guardian of the child.

  • 4. The department shall establish a separate level of payment, subject to the approval of the director of the budget, for payments made by governmental agencies for screenings performed pursuant to this section by hospitals, as defined in section twenty-eight hundred one of this chapter.

§ 1370-d. Lead screening of child care or pre-school enrollees

  • 1. Except as provided pursuant to regulations of the department, each child care provider, public and private nursery school and pre-school licensed, certified or approved by any state or local agency shall, prior to or within three months after initial enrollment of a child under six years of age, obtain from a parent or guardian of the child evidence that said child has been screened for lead.

  • 2. Whenever there exists no evidence of lead screening as provided for in subdivision one of this section or other acceptable evidence of the child's screening for lead, the child care provider, principal, teacher, owner or person in charge of the nursery school or pre-school shall provide the parent or guardian of the child with information on lead poisoning in children and lead poisoning prevention and refer the parent or guardian to a primary care provider or the local health authority.

  • 3.
    • (a) If any parent or guardian to such child is unable to obtain lead testing, such person may present such child to the health officer of the county in which the child resides, who shall then perform or arrange for the required screening.

    • (b) The local public health district shall develop and implement a fee schedule for households with incomes in excess of two hundred percent of the federal poverty level for lead screening pursuant to section six hundred six of this chapter, which shall vary depending on patient household income.

§ 1370-e. Reporting lead exposure levels

  • 1. Every physician or authorized practitioner shall give notice of elevated lead levels as specified by the commissioner pursuant to regulation, to the health officer of the health district wherein the patient resides, except as otherwise provided.

  • 2. The commissioner may, by regulation, provide that cases of elevated lead levels which occur (a) in health districts of less than fifty thousand population not having a full-time health officer, or (b) in state institutions shall be reported directly to the department or its district health officer.

  • 3. Whenever an analysis of a clinical specimen for lead is performed by a laboratory or a physician or authorized practitioner, the director of such laboratory or such physician or authorized practitioner shall, within such period specified by the commissioner report the results and any related information in connection therewith to the local and state health officer to whom a physician or authorized practitioner is required to report such cases pursuant to this section.

  • 4. The person in charge of every hospital, clinic, or other similar public or private institution shall give notice of every child with an elevated blood lead level coming under the care of the institution to the local or state health officer to whom a physician or authorized practitioner is required to report such cases pursuant to this section.

  • 5. The notices required by this section shall be in a form and filed in such time period as shall be prescribed by the commissioner.

§ 1371. Manufacture and sale of lead painted toys and furniture

  • 1. No person shall manufacture, sell or hold for sale a children's toy or children's furniture having paint or other similar surface-coating material thereon containing more than .06 of one per centum of metallic lead based on the total weight of the contained solids or dried paint film.

  • 2. The commissioner of health may waive the provisions of this section in whole or in part upon a finding by the commissioner in a particular instance that there is no significant threat to the public health; with respect to miniatures the commissioner shall do so, on terms and conditions he or she shall establish, upon a final judicial or administrative finding that there is no immediate public health threat in that instance.

§ 1372. Use of leaded paint

No person shall apply paint or other similar surface-coating material containing more than .06 of one per centum of metallic lead based on the total weight of the contained solids or dried paint film to any interior surface, window sill, window frame or porch of a dwelling.

§ 1373. Abatement of lead poisoning conditions

  • 1. Whenever the commissioner or his representative shall designate an area of high risk, he may give written notice and demand, served as provided herein, for the discontinuance of a paint condition conducive to lead poisoning in any designated dwelling in such area within a specified period of time.

  • 2. Such notice and demand shall prescribe the method of discontinuance of a condition conducive to lead poisoning which may include the removal of paint containing more than one-half of one per centum of metallic lead based on the total weight of the contained solids or dried film of the paint or other similar surface-coating material from surfaces specified by the commissioner or his representative under such safety conditions as may be indicated and the refinishing of such surfaces with a suitable finish which is not in violation of section one thousand three hundred seventy-two of this title or the covering of such surfaces with such material or the removal of lead contaminated soils or lead pipes supplying drinking water as may be deemed necessary to protect the life and health of occupants of the dwelling.

  • 3. In the event of failure to comply with a notice and demand, the commissioner or his representative may conduct a formal hearing upon due notice in accordance with the provisions of section twelve-a of this chapter and on proof of violation of such notice and demand may order abatement of a paint condition conducive to lead poisoning upon such terms as may be appropriate and may assess a penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars for such violation.

  • 4. A notice required by this section may be served upon an owner or occupant of the dwelling or agent of the owner in the same manner as a summons in a civil action or by registered or certified mail to his last known address or place of residence.

  • 5. The removal of a tenant from or the surrender by the tenant of a dwelling with respect to which the commissioner or his representative, pursuant to subdivision one of this section, has given written notice and demand for the discontinuance of a paint condition conducive to lead poisoning shall not absolve, relieve or discharge any persons chargeable therewith from the obligation and responsibility to discontinue such paint condition conducive to lead poisoning in accordance with the method of discontinuance prescribed therefor in such notice and demand.

§ 1374. Receivership

  • 1. In the event of failure to comply with an order issued pursuant to this title and containing provision for such application, the officer issuing the order may apply to a court of competent jurisdiction in the county wherein the dwelling is located for an order appointing such officer or his designee receiver of the rents of such dwelling for the purpose of effectuating the provisions of such order.

  • 2. An application for appointment of a receiver hereunder shall be on at least ten days' notice to the owner of the dwelling, effected in the same manner as in an action to foreclose a mortgage. A receiver appointed hereunder shall not have any right superior to those of any mortgagee or lienor of record who has not had at least ten days' notice, by personal service or registered or certified mail, of the application for appointment of a receiver.

  • 3. A receiver appointed hereunder shall have the power to collect the accrued and accruing rents of the dwelling and shall apply such collected rents to costs and expenses incurred in connection with (a) removing, replacing, repainting and covering surfaces of the dwelling necessary to effectuate the provisions of the order of abatement, (b) interim operation and management of the dwelling, (c) administration of the receivership.

  • 4. As soon as practicable after completion of his duties, the receiver shall render a full accounting to the court and, upon payment over of any surplus moneys to the owner or other persons as the court may approve or direct and upon the order of the court, he shall be relieved of any further responsibility or liability in connection with his receivership.

§ 1375. Enforcement agencies

  • 1. The commissioner's designee having jurisdiction, county and city commissioners of health and local housing code enforcement agencies designated by the commissioner's designee having jurisdiction or county or city commissioner of health shall have the same authority, powers and duties within their respective jurisdictions as has the commissioner under the provisions of this title.

  • 2. The commissioner or his representative and an official or agency specified in subdivision one of this section may request and shall receive from all public officers, departments and agencies of the state and its political subdivisions such cooperation and assistance as may be necessary or proper in the enforcement of the provisions of this title.

  • 3. Nothing contained in this title shall be construed to alter or abridge any duties and powers now or hereafter existing in the commissioner, county boards of health, city and county commissioners of health, the New York City department of housing preservation and development and the department of health, local boards of health or other public agencies or public officials, or any private party.

§ 1376-a. Sale of consumer products containing lead or cadmium

  • 1. In the absence of a federal standard for a specific type of product, the commissioner shall establish the maximum quantity of lead or cadmium (and the manner of testing therefor) which may be released from glazed ceramic tableware, crystal, china and other consumer products. Such maximum quantity shall be based on the best available scientific data and shall insure the safety of the public by reducing its exposure to lead and cadmium to the lowest practicable level. The commissioner may amend such maximum quantity (and the manner of testing therefor) where necessary or appropriate for the safety of the public. Until such maximum quantity of lead or cadmium established by the commissioner is effective, no glazed ceramic tableware shall be offered for sale which releases lead in excess of 7 parts per million, or cadmium in excess of .5 parts per million.

  • 2. The commissioner is hereby empowered to order the recall of or confiscation of glazed ceramic tableware, crystal, china or other consumer products offered for sale which do not meet the standards set forth in or pursuant to this section.

  • 3. The commissioner of health may waive the provisions of this section in whole or in part upon a finding by the commissioner in a particular instance that there is no significant threat to the public health; with respect to miniatures the commissioner shall do so, on terms and conditions he or she shall establish, upon a final judicial or administrative finding that there is no immediate public health threat in that instance.