Lead Poisoning on the Job: Bridge Blasting, Torch Cutting, and Old-Building Demolition

Most people think lead poisoning is a children's problem, something about old windowsills and paint chips. It is that. But NIOSH says direct exposure is most likely among workers in construction, mining, and manufacturing, and plenty of grown men and women carry lead in their blood because of what they did for a paycheck.

In Nebraska, that means the crews who strip old paint off bridges and water towers, the ironworkers who torch-cut painted steel during demolition, the laborers who gut pre-1978 commercial buildings, and workers in battery recycling, radiator and metal shops, and indoor firing ranges. The exposure is invisible, and the early symptoms look like the flu or a bad month.

Where the lead actually comes from

Older steel was often coated with lead-based paint, and a lot of it is still on bridges, towers, tanks and structural steel across the state. Intact paint sitting on a girder isn't the main worry. The trouble starts when someone has to get it off or cut through it.

• Abrasive blasting. Blasting old coatings off a bridge girder turns paint into fine dust inside a containment that can fill like a snow globe.
• Torch cutting and burning. Cutting through painted steel heats the coating and sends lead into the fume. OSHA treats this as one of the highest-exposure tasks, as you'll see below.
• Demolition and gut renovation. Manual scraping, sanding, heat guns, and knocking out painted surfaces all put lead in the air.
• Industrial work. Battery recycling, radiator repair, smelting, brass and bronze work, and cleaning indoor ranges all handle lead directly.

What lead does to an adult body

The CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) says plainly that "there is currently no known safe level of lead." According to NIOSH, high exposure in adults may cause anemia, kidney damage, nerve and brain damage, infertility in men and women, hearing damage, heart disease, and death.

The symptoms are what make lead so dangerous at work. NIOSH's symptoms page lists, for a heavy short-term dose, a metallic taste, stomach pain, nausea, headache, exhaustion, irritability, memory loss, and tingling or pain in the hands and feet. Over the long haul, it lists depression, mood changes, forgetfulness, and higher blood pressure. NIOSH warns that because these look like ordinary illness, lead poisoning may be missed. So ask. NIOSH tells workers to let their doctors know they work with lead and to request a blood lead test if the employer doesn't offer routine testing.

What OSHA requires on a construction site

Construction work involving lead is governed by its own federal rule, 29 CFR 1926.62. It covers any construction work where a worker may be exposed to lead, and it names demolition, removal of lead-containing materials, and renovation or repair of structures containing lead. (Factories, battery recyclers and similar workplaces fall under a separate general-industry rule, 29 CFR 1910.1025, which uses the same airborne limits.)

The two numbers that matter in the air

• Action level: 30 micrograms per cubic meter of air, averaged over an eight-hour day.
• Permissible exposure limit: 50 micrograms per cubic meter. No worker is supposed to breathe more than that.

"Assume the worst until you measure"

The employer must first determine whether anyone may be exposed at or above the action level. Until that assessment is done, the rule makes the employer treat certain tasks as high-exposure work. For manual demolition, manual scraping and sanding, and heat-gun work, the employer must presume exposure is above the limit. For abrasive blasting, welding, cutting and torch burning, the presumed exposure goes up to 2,500 micrograms, which is fifty times the limit.

During that interim period the employer has to provide respirators, protective clothing, change areas, handwashing, blood testing and training.

After the initial assessment, air monitoring must be repeated at least every six months if exposure falls between the two numbers, and every quarter if it's above the limit. Workers must be told their results in writing within five working days.

Blood testing

If you're exposed at or above the action level on any day, the employer must make an initial blood lead test available. If that happens for more than thirty days in a year, the employer must offer blood testing at least every two months for the first six months and every six months after that, more often once a result hits 40 micrograms per deciliter. You get your blood lead result in writing within five working days.

Medical removal: your paycheck is protected

This is the part most workers never hear about. When a blood test comes back at or above 50 micrograms per deciliter, the employer must take the worker off lead-exposed work. The worker can return once two tests in a row come back below 40.

During removal, the employer must provide medical removal protection benefits for up to eighteen months each time it happens. That means keeping the worker's total normal earnings, seniority, and other employment rights and benefits as if he were still on the job.

Keeping lead on the jobsite

The rule also tries to keep lead from going home. Protective clothing has to be provided at no cost to the worker. Contaminated clothing comes off only in a change area and goes into a closed container. Street clothes get separate storage. Nobody is supposed to blow or shake lead dust off clothing, and workers aren't supposed to leave the site wearing the gear they wore on shift. Where showers are feasible, workers shower at shift's end.

When those steps get skipped, children and spouses can be exposed too. I covered how that kind of household exposure works in my post on take-home asbestos exposure; the same logic applies to lead dust on work clothes.

Why the paperwork is the case

A lead case is unusual among toxic exposure claims because the evidence is usually written down, if anyone required it. Air sampling results, blood lead reports, removal records, and respirator program files are all records the rule makes employers create. Under the rule, they must be made available to current and former employees and their designated representatives.

If you worked lead jobs, request in writing:

• every air monitoring result for your tasks
• every blood lead result and the dates drawn
• any medical removal records
• your respirator fit-test and training records

If those records don't exist for a blasting job, that gap tells its own story. My post on proving occupational toxic exposure explains how to rebuild a work history when the paper is missing.

The workers' comp claim

Lead poisoning is a textbook occupational disease. Nebraska's comp law, Neb. Rev. Stat. § 48-151, covers disease that is "characteristic of and peculiar to a particular trade, occupation, process, or employment," and it excludes "ordinary diseases of life." The same section also covers aggravation of a preexisting occupational disease.

Insurers like to argue that high blood pressure, kidney disease, or memory trouble are ordinary diseases of life. But a documented blood lead level tied to blasting or cutting work is strong evidence the condition came from the job, not from the general public's environment. The medical causation fight still has to be won with doctors; my page on proving medical causation explains how that works in comp court.

One practical point: OSHA's medical removal benefits and workers' comp can overlap. The lead rule says the employer's removal-benefit obligation is reduced to the extent the worker receives lost-earnings compensation from a public or employer-funded program. So the two need to be coordinated, not just stacked.

Timing matters. § 48-137 sets a two-year limit on comp claims, and in a disease case, the date that clock starts is often disputed. Don't assume it's later than it is. My Omaha work injury lawyer page covers the comp process.

Claims beyond your employer

Comp is usually the only claim against your own employer. But lead jobs involve a lot of other companies, and some of them may be responsible:

• The general contractor or project owner's contractor that controlled the site may be liable if it ignored monitoring, allowed blasting without containment, or pushed the schedule past the safety plan.
• Respirator or protective-equipment makers may be liable if a defective respirator or blasting hood let lead through.
• A subcontractor whose torch cutting or blasting exposed workers from other trades nearby may be responsible to those workers.

These claims can pay for losses comp never covers, like pain and the full effect on your life. If one succeeds, Nebraska's § 48-118 gives the comp carrier a subrogation right against the recovery, so the two have to be handled together. My post on third-party claims after a work injury covers that, and these claims have their own deadlines, explained on my Nebraska statute of limitations page.

A hypothetical: the bridge repainting job

This is a made-up example, not a real case. A laborer joins a subcontractor repainting an old steel span. The first two weeks are blasting inside containment, with a paper dust mask. He gets headaches, stomach cramps, and short-tempered with his kids. A month in, the sub finally draws blood, and his level is 62.

Under the rule, he must be pulled off lead work and kept at full pay while removed. But the bigger questions come next. Was any air monitoring done before blasting started? Was he given a fitted respirator? Did the general contractor see blasting with paper masks and say nothing? Was the blasting hood defective? Each answer points toward a different potential claim, and the records from those first two weeks are where the case is won or lost.

What the other side usually says

• "His blood level came down, so he's fine." A better number today doesn't answer what the exposure already did. NIOSH lists kidney, nerve, and heart effects among the harms, and those are questions for his doctors, not the adjuster.
• "He had a respirator." Which one? Was it fit-tested? Was it rated for blasting? The rule ties respirator use to a full program, not a box of masks.
• "It came from his hobby." Ask what the air monitoring showed on his job. If nobody ran any, that argument is a guess.

Mistakes to avoid

• Waiting for symptoms to "settle" instead of asking for a blood test.
• Not telling the doctor about the job in detail: blasting, cutting, the years, the protection.
• Letting a supervisor talk you out of a removal you're entitled to.

Why workers call me after lead exposure

Lead cases reward a lawyer who reads the regulations, demands the records, and doesn't accept "he was fine once his number came down." I bring zealous, trial-ready advocacy to working people facing big contractors and insurers. My clients have recovered more than $23 million, with a top result of $5.4 million, and they describe how I handled their cases in many five-star reviews. Omaha readers voted my firm Best of Omaha (Personal Injury Law Firm) in both 2025 and 2026.

If blasting, torch cutting, demolition or industrial work left you or a family member with high blood lead or a lead-related illness, talk to a Nebraska toxic exposure lawyer while the monitoring records still exist. Call (402) 378-9208 or reach me here. There is no cost to talk it through, and you pay no fee unless I win.

Frequently asked questions

What blood lead level gets a construction worker removed from lead work?

Under OSHA's construction lead standard, a worker must be removed from lead-exposed work when a blood test shows 50 micrograms per deciliter or more, and can return after two consecutive tests below 40.

Does my employer have to keep paying me if I'm removed for high lead?

Yes, for up to eighteen months per removal. The employer must keep your total normal earnings, seniority and benefits, though that can be reduced by lost-wage compensation you receive from another program, such as comp.

Is lead poisoning covered by Nebraska workers' comp?

It can be. Nebraska covers occupational diseases that are characteristic of a particular trade or process. Whether a specific condition qualifies depends on the medical evidence and your work history.

Your Attorney

Frank Younes

Every page on this site is written by Frank Younes, a Nebraska trial attorney with a published record of verdicts and settlements, selection to the National Trial Lawyers Top 100, and a practice that covers every county in Nebraska and Iowa. No case is handed to an associate — the lawyer you read here is the lawyer who works your case.

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