For construction workers and supervisors who may be exposed to cadmium: where it is found, the PEL and action level, exposure monitoring, regulated areas, controls, respirators and protective clothing, hygiene and housekeeping, medical surveillance and training.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1127 · about 7 min read
Need proof of training? The full course (30 min) adds practice questions, a job scenario, the final quiz and a certificate your employer can verify.
PEL: no employee may be exposed above 5 micrograms per cubic meter of air (5 µg/m³), as an 8-hour TWA.
Action level:2.5 µg/m³ as an 8-hour TWA. Where exposures may be at or above it, exposure monitoring and medical surveillance duties can apply.
Before construction work where employees may be exposed, the employer designates a competent person who determines whether cadmium is present and whether exposures could be at or above the action level, using a review of plans, past reports, SDSs and other records, consultation with the property owner, and material testing as appropriate.
Exposure is measured with breathing-zone air samples that reflect your regular, daily 8-hour TWA exposure.
Where exposure may be at or above the action level, the employer conducts initial monitoring as soon as practicable (objective data may be used instead where it shows exposures will stay below the action level).
Monitoring may stop when results below the action level are confirmed by another sample at least seven days later.
Monitoring is repeated after changes in materials, equipment, personnel, work practices or products that may increase exposure.
You must be notified of results no later than 5 working days after the employer receives them. If the PEL is exceeded, the notice must say so and describe the corrective action.
A regulated area is set up wherever exposure is, or can reasonably be expected to be, above the PEL. It is marked off so employees know its boundaries.
Access is limited to authorized persons.
Each person entering must be supplied with and use a respirator.
No eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, or applying cosmetics in the area, and no carrying or storing those products there.
Warning signs are posted in the area and at all approaches, reading in part: DANGER, CADMIUM, MAY CAUSE CANCER, CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS AND KIDNEYS, WEAR RESPIRATORY PROTECTION IN THIS AREA, AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY.
Engineering and work practice controls come first, to keep exposure at or below the PEL unless the employer can show they are not feasible. (Engineering controls are not required to achieve the PEL where the employer shows the employee is only intermittently exposed and is not exposed above the PEL on 30 or more days per year.)
Employee rotation may not be used as a method of compliance.
High speed abrasive disc saws and similar equipment may not be used on cadmium materials above the PEL unless equipped with engineering controls to minimize emissions. Spraying cadmium materials above the PEL requires supplied-air respirators and other measures.
Where exposures exceed the PEL and the employer must use controls to meet it, a written compliance program is set up before the job starts.
A written emergency plan covers substantial releases of airborne cadmium.
Respirators must be used during, among other times:
Periods needed to install or implement controls when exposures exceed the PEL
Maintenance, repair and brief or intermittent work above the PEL where controls are not feasible or not required
Work in regulated areas
Work where feasible controls are in place but are not enough to get below the PEL
Work where an employee exposed at or above the action level requests a respirator
Emergencies
The employer runs a respiratory protection program, provides full facepiece respirators to employees who experience eye irritation, and provides HEPA filters for air-purifying respirators.
Above the PEL, or where skin or eye irritation is associated with exposure at any level, the employer provides at no cost and makes sure you use protective clothing and equipment: coveralls, gloves, head coverings, boots or foot coverings, and face shields or vented goggles.
Remove contaminated clothing and equipment at the end of the shift, in the change room.
Do not take contaminated clothing or equipment home. Only authorized employees take it away for laundering, cleaning, maintenance or disposal, in sealed, labeled bags or containers.
Do not remove cadmium from clothing by blowing or shaking it, or any other method that puts cadmium in the air.
Clean change rooms with separate storage for street clothes and protective clothing, handwashing facilities, showers and lunchrooms are provided.
Shower at the end of the work shift.
Wash hands and face before eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, or applying cosmetics.
Do not enter the lunchroom in protective clothing unless surface cadmium has been removed by HEPA vacuuming or another method that does not disperse it.
Housekeeping:
Clean up spills and releases as soon as possible.
Use HEPA vacuums or equally effective filtration. Shoveling, sweeping and brushing are allowed only where vacuuming and similar methods have been tried and found not effective.
No compressed air to clean surfaces unless used with a ventilation system designed to capture the dust cloud.
Contaminated waste goes in sealed, impermeable, labeled bags or containers.
Medical surveillance is provided to employees who are or may be exposed at or above the action level, and to those who perform listed tasks (such as cadmium welding for grounding, work on cadmium-painted surfaces, cadmium-coated conduit work and demolition where cadmium is present). It is not required if the employer shows both that the employee is not exposed at or above the action level on 30 or more days per year (twelve consecutive months) and that the employee is not exposed in those tasks on 30 or more days per year (twelve consecutive months). It is provided without cost, at a reasonable time and place, and includes exams and biological monitoring.
Training is given to each potentially exposed employee before or at initial assignment and at least annually. It covers health hazards (including cancer, lung effects, kidney effects and acute toxicity), where cadmium is on site, controls and work practices, protective measures including personal hygiene and smoking habits, respirators and clothing, the medical surveillance program, the standard itself, and your right of access to records.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1926.1127. It is not an OSHA card or license, it does not make anyone a competent person under the cadmium standard, and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 29 CFR 1926.1127(m)(4). Your employer must still train each employee who is potentially exposed to cadmium, prior to or at the time of initial assignment to a job involving potential exposure to cadmium and at least annually thereafter, in a training program that is understandable to the employee and informs each employee of the items listed in 29 CFR 1926.1127(m)(4)(iii), including the quantity, location, manner of use, release, and storage of cadmium in the workplace and the engineering controls and work practices associated with the employee's job assignment. Your employer must also train you in accordance with the Hazard Communication Standard as required by 29 CFR 1926.1127(m)(1), and provide medical surveillance where 29 CFR 1926.1127(l) requires it.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.