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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.
Scope
OSHA’s cadmium requirements apply to all General Industry occupational exposures to cadmium and cadmium compounds, in all forms.
Regulatory citations
- 29 CFR 1910.1027 — Appendix D to 1910.1027—Occupational health history interview with reference to cadmium exposure
Key definitions
- Action level: The action level for workplace exposure to cadmium is 2.5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (2.5 µg/m 3) calculated as an 8-hour time-weighted average (TWA) exposure.
- PEL or Permissible Exposure Limit: The PEL is a time-weighted average concentration that must not be exceeded during any 8-hour work shift of a 40-hour work week. The standard sets a PEL of 5 micrograms of cadmium per cubic meter of air (5 µg/m 3) for all cadmium compounds, dust, and fumes.
- Separate Engineering Control Air Limit, or SECAL: The SECAL is a separate exposure limit to be achieved in specified processes and workplaces where it is not possible to achieve the PEL of 5 µg/m 3 through engineering and work practices alone. The SECAL for cadmium is 15 µg/m 3 or 50 µg/m 3, depending on the processes involved. The employer covered by the SECAL is required to achieve that limit by engineering and work practice controls to the extent feasible and to protect employees from exposures above the PEL by any combination of compliance methods, including engineering and work practice controls and respirators.
Summary of requirements
Employers must:
- Determine if any employee may be exposed to cadmium at or above the action level.
- Observe exposure limits. There are three exposure limits an employer must observe under the OSHA cadmium standard. The first is the action level, or AL, which is defined as the airborne level of cadmium that creates a need for airborne exposure monitoring, a medical surveillance program for employees who are at or above the AL on 30 or more days per year, and the provision of a respirator to any employee that requests one. The second limit is the Permissible Exposure Limit, or PEL, which defines the limit to which an employee may be exposed to cadmium in the workplace. The third limit level is known as a Separate Engineering Control Air Limit, or SECAL, and may be one of several specific and unique exposure limits that apply to select and defined industries and processes. The employer must achieve the PEL through engineering controls and work practices in all industries not designated with a separate SECAL.
- Establish a regulated area wherever an employee’s exposure to airborne concentrations of cadmium is, or can reasonably be expected to be in excess of the permissible exposure limit (PEL).
- Implement engineering and work practice controls to reduce and maintain employee exposure to cadmium at or below the PEL, except to the extent that the employer can demonstrate that such controls are not feasible.
- Implement a respiratory protection program where employees are required to use respirators.
- Develop and implement a written plan for dealing with emergency situations involving substantial releases of airborne cadmium.
- Provide protective clothing. If an employee is exposed to airborne cadmium above the PEL or where skin or eye irritation is associated with cadmium exposure at any level, the employer must provide at no cost to the employee, and assure that the employee uses, appropriate protective work clothing and equipment that prevents contamination of the employee and the employee’s garments.
- Ensure hygiene areas and practices. For employees whose airborne exposure to cadmium is above the PEL, the employer must provide clean change rooms, handwashing facilities, showers, and lunchroom facilities that comply with 29 CFR 1910.141.
- Use effective housekeeping practices.
- Implement a medical surveillance program.
- Communicate hazards through effective hazard communication and labeling/signage.
- Keep medical and exposure records.