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Worker exposure to cadmium can occur in all industry sectors but mostly in manufacturing and construction. Workers may be exposed during smelting and refining of metals, and manufacturing batteries, plastics, coatings, and solar panels. The expanding Ni-Cd battery recycling industry is a concern for cadmium exposure. Electroplating, metal machining, welding and painting are operations associated with cadmium exposure. Workers involved in landfill operations, the recycling of electronic parts, or the recycling of plastics may be exposed to cadmium. Compost workers and waste collectors are also potentially exposed to dust which may contain cadmium. The incineration of municipal waste is another source of cadmium exposure.
The primary and most serious adverse health effects of long-term exposure to cadmium include kidney dysfunction, lung cancer, and prostate cancer. Cadmium may cause local skin or eye irritation and can affect long-term health if inhaled or ingested. Workers face a greater danger of cadmium exposure from inhalation than from ingestion. Exposure to cadmium that may be dangerous to life or health may occur in jobs in which workers are exposed to cadmium dust or fumes, where they heat compounds or surfaces that contain cadmium, or where workers weld or cut with materials or solders that contain cadmium.
OSHA’s cadmium requirements apply to all General Industry occupational exposures to cadmium and cadmium compounds, in all forms.
Employers must: