Cadmium Testing Services

Cinnaminson, New Jersey, April 14, 2025

Cadmium is an important metal used in many industrial processes. It has had numerous uses over the years, including in batteries, solar cells, pigments, alloys, metal coatings, and plastics.

While cadmium provides many benefits to industry, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) warns that cadmium and its compounds are highly toxic. Exposure to this metal is known to cause cancer and targets the body's cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems.

According to OSHA:

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. 

“Workers can be exposed to cadmium by breathing in dusts, fumes, or mists containing it,” said Joe Frasca, Senior Vice President of Marketing at EMSL Analytical, Inc. “Cadmium and cadmium compounds can also get on the skin, contaminate clothing or food, and be ingested.”

To help protect workers from exposure, OSHA has set a permissible exposure limit (PEL) for cadmium. EMSL is also dedicated to helping businesses safeguard their employees from inhalation and other contact hazards caused by cadmium and other substances. Their industrial hygiene, environmental, and material testing experts, with laboratories across North America, also provide sampling supplies, air monitoring instruments, and personal protective equipment (PPE). They have even sponsored an educational video about cadmium and occupational exposure risks that can be seen at: https://youtu.be/MyaF9xJzTd0 

To learn more about testing for cadmium or for access to sampling supplies, air monitoring instruments, and PPE, please visit www.EMSL.com, call (800) 220-3675, or email info@EMSL.com.