Cooties. According to playground lore, little girls and boys carry heaps of them. Apparently, like many environmental issues of concern, cooties cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor do they have any detectable odor. I cannot tell you the OSHA permissible exposure limit (PEL) for cooties, although many environmental issues do have mandated limitations on exposure. Cooties are transferred via skin-to-skin contact in a playground setting, but many environmental contaminants can find additional routes to reach you such as inhalation, ingestion or absorption. A disastrous dose of cooties can come in the acute form of a kiss behind the swing set and/or from chronic tagging over time. Ultimately, cootie exposure can lead to a complete loss of the spinal column, a tuxedo rental and the incurable “yes-dear-osis.” I myself am infected. And, with no known remedy, I remain happily married.
In the course of your restoration and remediation work there are far more nefarious environmental hazards to consider then playground cooties. Awareness is the first step in mitigating both fictitious cooties and very real environmental hazards. Below, I briefly describe a few of the common environmental issues crews encounter. It is not an exhaustive list. It is not in order of importance. It is no substitute for formal education and field experience. This information is merely designed to raise awareness and to spark a dialogue within your team.