Programs and Materials

For adults

Information sheet for parents about lead poisoning

New England Lead Coordinating Committee

HEC administers the New England Lead Coordinating Committee (NELCC), a regional consortium of state agencies that are working to eliminate lead poisoning, especially in children, by 2010. NELCC develops regional projects and promotes the exchange of information, ideas, materials, and programs among its member agencies, federal agencies, and other organizations working to eliminate lead poisoning throughout New England.

Click for a pilot training on lead-safe work practices for employees of paint and home improvement stores.

Click to download

NELCC's detailed booklet on lead-safe work practices.

Don't Spread Lead: A Do-It-Yourselfer's Guide to Preventing Lead Poisoning by Working Lead Safe

A lead-poisoning awareness video for do-it-youselfers, in English and Spanish, with an introduction by Norm Abram, master carpenter of PBS's This Old House and host of PBS's New Yankee Workshop.

Any home built before 1978 may contain lead paint. Doing repairs or renovations without taking proper precautions could put people at risk for lead poisoning, a very serious illness.

If a home has lead paint, then common activities—such as sanding and scraping an old windowsill or removing paint with a heat gun—can produce dangerous lead dust, chips, and fumes. Don’t Spread Lead shows do-it-yourselfers how to handle small repairs or renovations safely. By using the five steps of lead safety shown in this program, do-it-yourselfers can help to prevent lead poisoning for themselves, their families, and their communities.

Click to view or download the
English version of this video

Click to view or download the Spanish version

Volunteers Opening Doors: The Five Keys to
Lead Safety

A lead-poisoning awareness video for volunteer painting and housing-rehabilitation programs, in English and Spanish

Millions of houses and apartments built before 1978 have paint that contains lead. Chips, dust, and fumes from this paint can be very dangerous if they are not handled properly. Lead is particularly hazardous to unborn babies, infants, and young children. Volunteers in painting and housing-rehabilitation programs often work in homes that contain lead paint. The work they perform can create a lead hazard if they disturb this paint and produce paint chips or dust.

Volunteers Opening Doors is a video program for these volunteers. It explains how volunteers can protect housing residents,themselves, and their families from lead poisoning by using the five keys to lead safety:

1.  Protect residents and their belongings.
2.  Prepare the work area.
3.  Protect yourself from dust and debris.
4.  Work wet.
5.  Work clean.

Click to request free copies of

Volunteers Opening Doors

or telephone

1-800-424-LEAD

Click to view the video at the

Habitat for Humanity website

Click to view or download the English version of this video

(Please note that the file is very large and will take a long time to download, even with a high-speed connection)

Click to view or download the Spanish version

Lead-Safe Work Practices for Painting, Remodeling, and Maintenance

A train-the-trainer program developed for the Connecticut Department of Public Health and approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in English and Spanish

This lead-safety training program is designed for renovators, remodelers, painters, maintenance personnel, and property owners. The hands-on program teaches workers how to protect themselves and their families, as well as consumers and their families, from the hazards of lead poisoning.
The training and documentation

• Explain the hazards of lead poisoning
• Teach workers how to prepare work sites in lead-safe ways
• Show workers exactly how to perform renovation, remodeling, and maintenance activities in lead-safe ways
• Teach workers how to clean up work sites in lead-safe ways
• Detail the equipment and supplies needed to perform all procedures
• Provide checklists for workers and consumers to document compliance with lead-safe work practices

Supporting Family Involvement in
Children’s Learning

A train-the-trainer program in best practices for informal learning settings

Families are the first and most important teachers for children. Families teach children their languages, their goals, and their values. They do so mostly in informal ways—not by lecturing in a classroom, but by talking across the breakfast table, chatting on a bus ride, or reading a bedtime story. Families engage in informal education virtually all the time. Other adults also have rich opportunities to teach children outside formal classroom settings. Youth group leaders, after-school caregivers, and other caring adults can reach children and youths with messages that encourage both academic and personal development. The practices described in this training are designed to help professional and volunteer workers in informal educational settings to use and to support their best resources—the families of children and youths—through family involvement.

Click to link to the

What You Should Know about Lead Poisoning: A Resource Manual for Childcare Providers

A train-the-trainer program, in English and Spanish

Childcare providers are a critical link in helping to reduce lead poisoning among children. They are not only educators of young children but also sources of information for this parents and guardians. In both of these roles, they can serve the interests of children by becoming informed about the problems of lead poisoning and by sharing this information with the families of the children they care for.

Moreover, childcare providers are required by law to provide safe environments, free of lead and other hazards.

This program provides the information that childcare providers need to know about lead poisoning, about Connecticut laws and regulations concerning lead, information sheets for parents or guardians, and resources for further information. It also includes a curriculum to teach very young children the basics of lead-safe behavior.

Click to download

What You Should Know about Lead Poisoning (English)

and felt figures.

Click to download

What You Should Know about Lead Poisoning (Spanish)

and felt figures.

Building Family Futures

A parenting education train-the-trainer program

Building Family Futures prepares managers and staff of outpatient, day treatment, and residential programs to provide a comprehensive program of parenting education to their clients, in both individual and group settings. The goal of this parenting education is to strengthen parents so that they can help their children develop into healthy and capable people.   

Building Family Futures is based on the National Extension Parenting Education Model (NEPEM), developed by the Cooperative Extension System, one of the primary providers of parenting education in the United States. This comprehensive model incorporates a wide range of recommended practices that parents may adopt. These practices include understanding, guiding, nurturing, and motivating children, advocating for children, and self-care.

Click to download a brochure describing this program.

Measuring Radon in Residential Properties

A train-the-trainer program to teach home inspectors how to measure radon, in air and water, in accordance with protocols of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and guidance from the Connecticut Department of Public Health