Does old playground equipment have lead paint?

The short answer

If the equipment was painted before 1978, it probably has lead paint, and the first paint on it is the one to worry about. CPSC staff tested older equipment at 26 public playgrounds in 13 cities in 1996 and found paint above the federal 0.06 percent limit at 20 of them. Sixteen had paint at 0.5 percent lead or more, ranging from 0.62 to 8.76 percent, with a median of 1.47 percent¹. Where its age was reported, the equipment was 14 or more years old, and in four of five cities it was 25 to 45 years old¹.

The rule CPSC staff gave owners is the one to use: any painted surface that has not been repainted after 1977 should be assumed to contain lead. A repainted surface stays suspect unless records show lead free paint was used, because the original coat is still underneath¹.

Lead in the paint is not yet a hazard. Staff did not consider intact paint in good condition one. It becomes a hazard when sunlight, heat, moisture and wear break it into chips and dust that children six and under get on their hands and then into their mouths¹. So condition, not just age, decides what you do.

Why "after 1978" does not settle it

One answer says the 1978 ban makes anything newer safe; another says lead turns up on equipment of any age. The second is closer to right.

The ban itself is broad. It covers paint for consumer use, toys and other articles intended for children, and paint used in "parks, playgrounds, and public buildings or other areas where consumers will have direct access to the painted surface", for products made after February 27, 1978³. CPSC staff named playground equipment as one of the children's articles it covers¹. How that ban sits beside the voluntary playground standards is set out in CPSC, ASTM and the standards.

What the date cannot tell you is what is on the structure now. A frame from 1970 repainted in 1990 has lead free paint over leaded paint, and the old layer becomes reachable again as the new one peels. That is why CPSC staff treat repaints as suspect without records¹. Nor is a fresh coat proof. A 2016 survey of public playgrounds in south west England found lead in 102 of 242 painted surfaces, up to 152,000 micrograms per gram, in both flaking paint and paint that appeared recently applied⁹.

Colors give a hint, not an answer. CPSC staff found red, orange, yellow, green and brown the colors most likely to contain lead¹, and the English survey found its highest lead levels mostly in yellow and red paints⁹.

Which lead number applies

Mixing up these figures is why owners get conflicting answers from testers.

The 0.5 percent figure comes from the 1992 Residential Lead-Based Paint Hazard Reduction Act; CPSC staff used it because EPA and HUD do¹. Paint can be 50 times over the 90 ppm consumer limit and still sit below 0.5 percent, which matters when you read a test result.

How to test, and why kits mislead

Laboratory analysis of paint chips is the method CPSC staff recommend, by an accredited laboratory using a standard method for total lead¹. Collect from several locations, one sample for each type and color of paint, and ask the laboratory whether a trained professional must take the samples¹.

Kits are where advice splits. In 1996 CPSC staff found they did not reliably tell leaded from lead free paint¹, and CPSC did not recommend them on playground equipment². EPA now recognizes three kits, but only for a negative result, only in the hands of a trained professional or certified renovator, and two of them only on wood and ferrous metal. No kit has met EPA's standard for positive results⁵.

So on a steel frame, a recognized kit can tell you the paint is probably below 0.5 percent. It cannot show the paint is below 90 ppm, cannot confirm lead, and is not recognized on aluminum. If the answer will decide money or sanding, pay for the laboratory.

What to do with the result

The CPSC staff strategy is a short decision tree¹.

• Paint intact, no chips or dust, no repairs planned. Monitor it by visual inspection, folded into your regular safety checks, or test it. Staff did not think testing intact paint was necessary. If testing confirms lead, keep monitoring.
• Paint deteriorating. Sample it and send it to the laboratory.
• Deteriorating paint at 0.5 percent lead or more. Control it, as the priority.
• Between 0.06 and 0.5 percent. Owners "may consider" controls; staff called this a reduced priority, but important.

On a public site, monitoring fits the inspection schedule you already run: daily and weekly checks catch fresh flaking, and the annual audit records each painted component's condition. File the laboratory reports with the equipment, as records and documentation describes.

For parents, the CPSC release gave three steps: look for deteriorating paint, ask the owner to test it, and keep children's hands out of mouths and washed thoroughly afterward². Cleaning and sanitizing covers the hand washing habit, and checking a playground as a parent the rest of the walk.

Cover it, strip it, or replace it

CPSC staff split the controls into interim and permanent¹.

Interim: cover it. Stabilize the surface and coat it with lead free paint or an encapsulant, for equipment due for replacement within a few years. Outdoors it wears through, so it needs monitoring for life. Encapsulants were developed for interiors, and on metal prone to rust they are generally not effective without a corrosion-control primer¹. If the frame is already rusting, read corrosion and rust first.

Permanent: remove the paint. Use a professional who is trained, certified or licensed for lead removal, because doing it badly spreads chips and dust across the play area. Repaint with paint inside the CPSC limit¹, which is now 0.009 percent⁴.

Permanent: replace the equipment. CPSC staff call this the most definitive way to remove the risk¹. Run the comparison in replacement or renovation, and ask the state or local health department or environmental agency about disposal rules first¹.

At home, a pre-1978 metal frame with flaking paint is usually a removal, which moving or removing a playset covers. If you are shopping, add paint to the checks in buying a used playset.

The ground under it

CPSC staff tell inspectors to check for paint chips under the equipment¹. Where chips have been falling for years, the loose fill or soil below has been collecting them. EPA treats 400 ppm of lead or more in bare soil in a play area on residential property, or at a child-occupied facility, as a soil-lead hazard, and 1,200 ppm averaged over the rest of the yard⁷. Only a soil test tells you which side you are on. Replace fill with chips in it rather than raking it in; surfacing upkeep covers replacing fill.

Where this stops applying

The 1996 study covered older equipment at 26 sites, and 0.5 percent is a priority line, not a safe line¹. Its finding that a tenth of a square inch of the median paint, swallowed daily for 15 to 30 days, could reach a level of concern was set against 10 micrograms per deciliter¹. CDC's reference value is now 3.5, and CDC says no safe blood lead level in children exists⁸. The English survey is not a US figure⁹. Bare galvanized steel, powder coat and plastic are other questions (steel, wood and plastic compared), as is arsenic in old treated wood (CCA treated playsets).

What to do next

Walk the structure and date every painted surface. If any of it predates 1978 and the paint is sound, add it to the inspection list and leave it alone. If it is flaking, keep children off it, send chips to a laboratory, and get a quote for replacement alongside the quote for professional removal before anyone picks up a scraper.