Advice on lead in old paint - Advice sheet 1
Look out for lead paint
This advice sheet is intended to support the guidance given in the leaflet
Planning to decorate? Do it safely
(174 KB) - to provide more detailed information on identifying and safely
dealing with lead paint in your home.
What is the risk?
Lead can seriously damage human health, whether ingested or inhaled. However, severe cases of lead poisoning are relatively unusual in this country.
Where is the risk?
Until the 1960s, lead-containing pigments such as white lead were widely used in oil-based domestic and industrial paints. It was added in substantial amounts.
Properties built before the 1960s, and where paint layers are thick, are most likely to contain lead paint. Lead pigments were used in domestic paints for windows, doors and interior woodwork, and in protective paints for iron and galvanised metalwork. Water-based paints - emulsion paints - never contained lead, but distempers (an early form of whitewash, sometimes coloured) occasionally contained lead.
Paintwork containing lead pigment must be treated as a potential health risk if it is:
- cracking, flaking or peeling
- likely to be chewed by children or animals
- being removed and disposed of during maintenance
The use of lead pigments in thin primer paints on some prefabricated domestic wooden windows continued through to the 1980s.
Lead pollution can arise from many sources other than paint, notably from:
- industrial processes involving lead
- lead water pipes.
Is paint safe now?
Modern household paints do not contain added lead.
Can anyone still use lead paint?
- The Environmental Protection (Controls on Injurious Substances) Regulations 1992 control the marketing and use of lead paint (containing white lead) in the UK. The Regulations allow restricted use of lead paint in accordance with the European Marketing and Use Directive (89/677/EEC). Retail sale of all lead paints to the general public is prohibited. See Advice Sheet 4 for more information on lead paint and the law.
- Regulations allow the use of lead paint, but in strictly controlled and special circumstances for the redecoration of Grade I and II* listed historic buildings. Specialist advice on redecoration should be sought for listed buildings.
- The derogation does allow the use of lead in artists' paints and specialist hobby paints. The Chemicals (Hazard Information and Packaging for Supply) Regulations 2002 make it a requirement that the paint supplier labels the product packaging and provides a safety data sheet. Users of these paint products must comply with the Control of Lead at Work Regulations 2002.
- Trade users only may use paints containing lead pigments other than white lead provided they are clearly labelled and Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) information is supplied. The principal use would be in paints for industrial steelwork.
Where can I find out more?
More information on lead paint is available on this website in the following advice sheets (you are reading Advice Sheet 1):
- Advice Sheet Number 2 - Testing for Lead Paint
- Advice Sheet Number 3 - Restoration methods and safe working
- Advice Sheet Number 4 - Lead Paint and the Law
- Advice Sheet Number 5 - Professional help and advice
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Page last modified:
16 August 2005
Page published: 12 April 2001