The lead-acid battery industry takes a number of steps to ensure that their products are manufactured in the safest and most environmentally responsible manner possible.  Care is taken to safeguard people working in and living around battery-related facilities, as well as to protect the surrounding air and water.

Air Filters and Scrubbers

To keep microscopic particles of airborne lead emissions to a minimum, manufacturers and recyclers use high-efficiency air filters and wet scrubbers to filter plant air before it is released into the atmosphere. The filters are inspected and replaced regularly. The filters also are equipped with alarms, and the process is shut down or re-routed should a filter tear or break.

Clean Water

Manufacturers and recyclers capture and treat process water to keep lead out of streams and rivers. The water is tested before it is released to be certain it meets clean water standards.

Clean Air

At recycling plants, air monitors are installed at the perimeter of each property to make sure any lead in the air is below the allowable limit. The limit is 1.5 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air, averaged on a quarterly basis. This is an extremely conservative limit. To illustrate just how stringent this requirement is, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration [OSHA] says a worker inside a plant may be safe even if exposed to 50 micrograms of lead per cubic meter of air every day.

Work Practices

Children can be exposed to lead when a parent who works at a lead plant carries dust home on shoes or work clothes, or in the worker's hair. OSHA regulations require workers in high-lead-exposure areas of the plant to leave work clothes and shoes there and to shower and wash their hair before going home. They also require workers in high-lead areas of the plant to wear a respirator, a device that filters lead particles out of the air a worker breathes. Education programs train workers to wash thoroughly before eating or smoking during lunch or breaks, and to practice other habits that safeguard their health.

Fugitive Emissions

Plants have a regular program of exterior vacuuming or washing down paved areas and capturing and treating rainwater runoff. Vehicles that transport lead products typically are hosed down before leaving a facility so that any dust on tires or the vehicle body is not carried to public roads.