The New York attorney general said funds from 2021 lead-paint enforcement settlements will support free certification and rights training for more than 700 construction workers.

What happened

New York Attorney General Letitia James said Tuesday that her office will put $250,000 from earlier lead-paint enforcement settlements into a new program to train and certify about 720 New York City construction workers in lead-safe work practices.

The program will be administered by the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and aimed at day laborers and other low-wage workers involved in residential renovation, repair and painting work. The attorney general's office said the money comes from 2021 settlements with A&E Real Estate Holdings and Chestnut Holdings of New York Inc. over numerous violations of New York City's lead-paint laws at their properties.

The office said the money more than doubles the safety training NYCOSH provides each year to construction day laborers. James said, "This new lead safety training program invests directly into these workers, helping them protect themselves and their families from the dangers of lead."

Under federal and New York City law, renovation, repair or painting activities that disturb lead paint in buildings built before 1978 must be performed by workers with official lead-safe training and certification. Workers in the free NYCOSH program will receive the required training and certification, Know Your Rights training, lead-risk educational materials and testing kits to identify lead contamination in their homes.

The release says studies indicate children of lead-exposed construction workers are six times more likely to have toxic blood lead levels than children whose parents do not work in lead-related industries. It also says 80% of New York City housing was built before the city banned lead-based paint in 1978, and that about eight in 10 residential renovation projects in the city involve work requiring lead-safe certification.

The attorney general's office said the NYCOSH project is the final project funded through a combined $810,000 secured from the A&E and Chestnut settlements. The office said other settlement-funded allocations went to a New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development small-landlord lead education program and a tenants' rights capacity-building project.