A Fairbanks-based environmental engineering firm has led the way on a campaign against lead contamination in Alaska's indoor shooting ranges.
Nortech Engineering Inc. has worked with state, academic and privately-owned firing ranges to raise awareness of health concerns associated with shooting guns in poorly ventilated or improperly maintained enclosed facilities.
Lead dust emitted from a gun's firing mechanism and barrel contaminates the air both within the firing range, and, depending on the ventilation system, in the surrounding buildings. So said Mike Cheek, a chemist with Nortech.
"One of the current primary means by which people are exposed to lead is on the shooting range," he said. "You could be teaching an English class at the opposite end of a (school) building from a shooting range and still be breathing lead."
While lead emissions from recreational target-shooting have not been standardized, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has taken steps to protect the people that work on the ranges, said Frank Meilinger, a spokesman for OSHA in Washington, D.C. The administration formed an alliance between the National Association of Shooting Ranges and the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute Inc. to work on educating shooting range operators, care-takers and developers nationwide on the hazards of airborne lead dust.
Lead contamination has become severe enough in some ranges to prompt the Department of Health and Social Services Division of Public Health's Section of Epidemiology to do a study on six rifle teams within the state. Of those six, three teams had lead blood levels above the normal points for concern -- 10 milligrams per deciliter of blood for children and 25 milligrams per deciliter in adults.
The teams all practiced at the same range, which voluntarily shut down for decontamination, said Tracey Lynn, a project coordinator for environmental public health with the Section of Epidemiology. The division would not identify the range, citing confidentiality concerns when dealing with a customer's medical records.
The section started looking at firing ranges as a risk when the coach of a high school rifle team reported a lead blood level of 44, nearly twice what the state deemed worthy of concern, Lynn said. She added that team members were also identified as having elevated levels of lead in their bloodstreams.
While the section has only interviewed and tested four high schools so far, Lynn suggested that lead dust is a problem for rifle teams throughout the state.
"Most, if not all, of the ranges that high school students are using," have reportable concentrations of lead dust, she said.
Schools aren't the only institutions that have faced the dilemma of to shoot or not to shoot, when it comes to lead contamination.
In Fairbanks, a practice firing range for the Alaska State Troopers has shut down, according to Gary Lafferty, who is in charge of maintenance for the Trooper's Fairbanks post. The range has been closed for a year, he said, and there are no immediate plans to reopen it.
Lafferty said he became aware of the risk of lead dust when he was working with a new firing range under construction by the Department of Fish and Game. Once he was able to recognize the signs of lead contamination, Lafferty investigated his own site.
"It looked like a problem to me, and we started investigating it" he said. "Sure enough, there were some problems with the way the building was built and it allowed the dust to circulate into the rest of the building."
Cheek said bad ventilation is a common problem in older structures or in buildings that were not designed to house a shooting range.
"You can think of a shooting range as a type of facility where a fume is emitted, just like a laboratory," Cheek said. "In order to be really (environmentally) compliant, a shooting range needs a separate circulation system for itself and a cross ventilation system to move air across the area."
Tony Barnard, an industrial hygienist with Nortech who specializes in lead dust problems, said most buildings are built with a standard ventilation system that filters air throughout the building, not just within one contained room. Retrofitting a shooting range to maintain its own air filtration system is expensive, which, he said, is why many facilities haven't reevaluated their set-ups.
"The bottom line is that people are being exposed to lead," Barnard said. "People don't recognize it (a shooting range) as a source of a lead hazard."
Lynn added that proper cleaning measures, while expensive, can also greatly reduce the risk of lead poisoning for workers and recreators alike. While a specialized high-efficiency particle air filter vacuum is the preferred measure for removing the dust, few ranges have the expensive system, she said.
More common practices, such as sweeping the floor while it is dry, can aerate the lead so that it is free to be inhaled, she said. Wet-mopping the floor and wiping vertical areas with a lead-attracting cleaning solution is an effective technique; and shell casings are best moved with a squeegee, which doesn't disturb the dust, Lynn said.
"A key to prevention is education," she said. "Most people haven't thought about it, but when you stop and think about it, these cleaning practices make sense."
Lynn said her section has made educating the public about the risks of lead exposure on the firing line a priority. The Section of Epidemiology offers materials on lead dust clean-up and awareness at its Anchorage office .
Cheek said the popularity of shooting within the state and lack of understanding of lead contamination means that people are unnecessarily putting themselves at risk for poisoning.
"The shooting sports in Alaska are very important," he said. "There's a lot of people who shoot for entertainment and relaxation, and they're exposing themselves to lead voluntarily."
