For workers and supervisors in plants and shops where cadmium is made, used or heated: health effects, the PEL and action level, exposure monitoring, regulated areas, controls, respirators and protective clothing, hygiene and housekeeping, medical surveillance, signs, labels and training.
Based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1027 · 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.
Cadmium is much more dangerous breathed in than swallowed. Very high short-term exposures, which may be immediately dangerous to life or health, occur in jobs that handle large quantities of cadmium dust or fume, heat cadmium compounds or cadmium-coated surfaces, weld with cadmium solders, or cut cadmium-containing parts such as bolts.
Acute: severe exposure can happen before you feel anything. Throat irritation, a metallic taste or cough may be followed hours later by shortness of breath and flu-like symptoms. Fluid in the lungs usually develops within 24 hours.
Chronic: repeated exposure, even at low levels, can cause kidney damage and raises the risk of lung and prostate cancer.
Reference: 29 CFR 1910.1027 App. A · 29 CFR 1910.1027 App. A, II.B.1 · 29 CFR 1910.1027 App. A, II.B.2
Exposure is measured from breathing zone samples as if you were not wearing a respirator.
At or above the AL, monitoring repeats at least every six months. It can stop when a result below the AL is confirmed by another taken at least seven days later.
Monitoring is redone when a change in raw materials, equipment, personnel, work practices or finished products may expose more employees at or above the AL or push exposures above the PEL, or the employer suspects another change might.
You are told your results within 15 working days. If the PEL was exceeded, the notice says what is being done about it.
Where exposure is or could be above the PEL, the area is marked off as a regulated area.
Authorized persons enter. Each person who enters is given and wears a respirator.
No eating, drinking, smoking, chewing tobacco or gum, or applying cosmetics inside, and do not carry or store those products there.
Signs at the area and its approaches read: 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 are the first way to get exposure to or below the PEL, except where the employer can show they are not feasible. In some industries, listed processes have a separate engineering control air limit (SECAL) of 15 or 50 micrograms per cubic meter that controls must reach instead. Controls are not required where the employer shows a worker is only intermittently exposed and not above the PEL on 30 or more days a year.
Where controls fall short, respirators supplement them.
Rotating workers to spread out exposure is not allowed as a compliance method.
Above the PEL, there is a written compliance program, reviewed and updated at least annually.
Ventilation performance is measured to keep it effective. Recirculated exhaust air needs a high efficiency filter.
In an emergency release, people not needed to fix it leave the area and normal operations stop until it is over.
Respirators must be used: while feasible controls are being installed and exposure exceeds the PEL; for maintenance and repair and brief or intermittent jobs above the PEL where controls are not feasible or not required; in regulated areas; where all feasible controls are in place but do not reach the PEL; above the PEL in listed SECAL processes where engineering controls are not required; in emergencies; and whenever you are at or above the action level and ask for a respirator.
Air-purifying respirators use HEPA filters.
Eye irritation? You get a full facepiece.
You may choose a powered air-purifying respirator (PAPR) instead of a negative-pressure respirator if it gives adequate protection.
Trouble breathing during fit testing or use means a medical exam.
Above the PEL, or where cadmium irritates skin or eyes at any level, your employer provides at no cost coveralls, gloves, head and foot coverings, and face shields or vented goggles.
Take contaminated clothing off at the end of the shift, and do so only in the change room. Do not take it home.
Dirty clothing goes in sealed, impermeable bags or containers, labeled.
Clean, dry clothing is supplied as often as needed and at least weekly. The employer launders, repairs and replaces it.
A rip or tear is mended or the suit replaced immediately.
Keep surfaces as free as practicable of cadmium buildup, and clean up spills as soon as possible.
Clean with a HEPA vacuum. Shoveling, dry or wet sweeping and brushing are used only where vacuuming or other methods that keep cadmium out of the air have been tried and found not to be effective.
No compressed air on cadmium dust unless a ventilation system captures the dust cloud.
Waste, scrap and used PPE go in sealed impermeable bags or containers labeled DANGER / CONTAINS CADMIUM / MAY CAUSE CANCER / CAUSES DAMAGE TO LUNGS AND KIDNEYS / AVOID CREATING DUST.
Medical surveillance covers employees exposed at or above the action level on 30 or more days a year, plus some previously exposed employees.
Exams are free and at a reasonable time and place, by or under a licensed physician.
The first exam comes within 30 days of assignment: a medical and work history plus biological monitoring of cadmium in urine, beta-2 microglobulin in urine, and cadmium in blood.
A periodic exam follows within one year, with more frequent testing when results are high.
If you are temporarily medically removed from exposure, medical removal protection benefits are paid for up to 18 months each time.
Fact-checked against the regulation text on October 09, 2026. This certificate records completion of awareness training based on OSHA 29 CFR 1910.1027. It is not an OSHA card or license, and it does not by itself meet the training requirements of 29 CFR 1910.1027(m)(4). Your employer must still train each employee who is potentially exposed to cadmium, prior to or at the time of initial assignment and at least annually thereafter, in a training program that is understandable to the employee and informs each employee of everything listed in 1910.1027(m)(4)(iii), including the quantity, location, manner of use, release, and storage of cadmium in the workplace, the engineering controls and work practices for the employee's job, and the employer's specific protective procedures, and must keep a record of the contents of the program. Where respirators are required, your employer must also cover you under a respiratory protection program that meets 29 CFR 1910.134, including its training and fit-testing requirements, and must provide medical surveillance where 29 CFR 1910.1027(l) requires it.
This guide explains the rule in plain words. Always read the regulation itself and your employer's site-specific procedures.