TEACH CODE INSPECTORS ABOUT LEAD SAFETY THROUGH JOINT VISITS

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When a health department or a community-based organization makes joint visits with code inspectors, they can demonstrate methods to identify lead hazards. Such visits can motivate greater attention to lead safety, heighten awareness of and skill in identifying existing lead hazards, and prompt agencies to have their code inspectors trained as lead hazard inspectors or risk assessors. In jurisdictions where existing lead hazards are a violation of building and/or housing codes, joint visits and enhanced lead hazard assessment skills for code inspectors can lead to more thorough enforcement of the code.

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Immediate/Direct Results: Joint visits immediately raise lead hazard awareness among code inspectors and increase enforcement against property owners whose buildings contain lead hazards, leading to control or removal of those hazards.

Public Health Benefits: As code inspectors’ attention to peeling paint and lead dust hazards increases, more property owners will be required to attend to lead hazards before a child is poisoned.

Other Indirect/Collateral Benefits: A joint visit strategy can help create cooperative working relationships between agencies and/or organizations that may not have worked together in the past, and these relationships can help further goals of greater compliance with housing codes and addressing other housing-related health hazards. As news of stepped-up enforcement spreads, other property owners may be motivated to address lead hazards to avoid enforcement penalties. In cases where enforcement actions are not necessary because lead hazards are not discovered, code inspectors and their “lead-expert” partners can develop good relationships with landlords, tenants, and homeowners by providing information about lead safety and lead-safe work practices.

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City- or County-Wide Neighborhood/Community

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Health Department Property Owners

Code or Building Inspection Agency Tenants Community-based Organizations

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Staff requirements: In most instances, no new staff will be needed.

Other resource requirements: This strategy will require some educational materials.

Institutional capacity required: Inspectors will need training on identifying lead hazards, or even be trained as lead inspectors or risk assessors. The partners with expertise in lead hazards may need training on code

inspection techniques, the locality’s housing and/or building codes, and other details specific to each jurisdiction.

Cost considerations: Costs to implement this strategy should be minimal. Limited costs would be incurred if code inspectors go on to be trained as lead sampling technicians or in lead-safe work practices.

Timing issues: The implementation timeline will depend on training schedules, as well as how quickly partners with expertise in lead hazards can be integrated into the code inspection process.

Feasibility of Implementation: High. Implementation of this strategy should be easy.

Collaborations, Partnerships, and Incentives

TEACH CODE INSPECTORS ABOUT LEAD SAFETY THROUGH JOINT VISITS

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The main potential obstacle for realizing this strategy would be the unwillingness of code inspection agencies to participate in a joint visit strategy, as some agencies may be inflexible in their operations due, for example, to previous questions about the independence and objectivity of the inspection program. Another potential obstacle could be a perceived lack of need for joint visits or the unwillingness or inability to add another task to code inspectors’ list of duties.

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When the Environmental Health Coalition, a community-based organization in San Diego County, presented the National City Building and Safety Department with hard data from EHC’s lead sampling activities that showed the existence of significant lead hazards, the Department decided that code inspectors needed more information about lead safety and how to identify lead hazards. At the same time, EHC’s health promoters (Promotoras) wanted a better understanding of the code enforcement process.

The Department crafted the Community Housing Inspection Project, funded by a grant from the California Department of Housing and Community Development, to create a community code enforcement team consisting of code enforcement officers, a community relations health officer, property owners, and

neighborhood residents and tenants. EHC’s Promotoras cross-trained with code inspection and enforcement staff and then worked in joint inspection teams for one year in three target areas within the city.

Jurisdiction or Target Area: National City, CA

Primary Actors: Environmental Health Coalition (EHC) and the Building and Safety Department Secondary Actor(s): N/A

Staffing utilized: Ten Promotoras participated in the cross-training; three National City code inspectors were trained on the basics of conducting a visual inspection to identify lead hazards.

Other resources utilized: Several code inspectors later sought training as risk assessors.

Factors essential to implementation: The cooperative attitude of the National City Building and Safety Department was critical to the implementation of this strategy. The dedication and interest from both the Promotoras and the code inspectors was also key.

Limitations/challenges/problems encountered: Language barriers were initially a challenge for this project, as most of the residents in the project’s target area were Latino. EHC and the Department overcame these barriers by utilizing the Promotoras’ translation skills. Another challenge for the project was the Department’s reputation in the project’s target area; prior to the project, the inspector for that portion of National City had severely alienated residents in those neighborhoods. The joint visits proved an excellent vehicle for building trust between the community and the Department.

Magnitude of Impact/Potential Impact: The cross training has allowed National City code inspectors and EHC’s Promotoras to assess hundreds of properties for lead hazards so far. EHC’s project also resulted in the Department adopting a protocol that empowers code inspectors to cite peeling paint as a nuisance in buildings constructed before 1979 and requires landlords to fix the hazard using lead-safe work practices.

Collaborations, Partnerships, and Incentives

TEACH CODE INSPECTORS ABOUT LEAD SAFETY THROUGH JOINT VISITS

Potential for replication: High. This strategy holds a good potential for replication in areas where significant lead hazards have been documented and where a cooperative attitude exists at the local code inspection agency.

Contacts for Specific Information

Letty Ayala Kathleen Trees

Environmental Health Coalition Director, Building and Safety Department

619-235-0281 619-336-4210

[email protected] References for additional information

1. Environmental Health Coalition www.environmentalhealth.org