In 2012, CDC's National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) flagged the risk that electronics recycling workers could be exposed to lead and cadmium — and carry them home. Two recyclers then asked NIOSH for health hazard evaluations.
The two facilities
Both refurbished electronics for resale, pulled components for reuse, and recycled the rest.
| Facility A | Facility B | |
|---|---|---|
| Evaluated | 3 days, August 2015 | 2 days, July 2017 |
| Processing | hand disassembly and an industrial shredder | hand disassembly, no shredding |
| Workers taking part | all 15 | 8 of 12 |
NIOSH took blood samples, personal air samples, hand wipes at the end of the shift, and wipes of non-work surfaces such as refrigerator handles and microwave buttons, and asked about hygiene and protective gear.
What they found
| Facility A | Facility B | |
|---|---|---|
| Blood lead above CDC's reference level (5 µg/dL) | 3 of 12 | 0 of 8 |
| Blood cadmium above the exposure index (5 µg/L) | 0 | 0 |
| Air lead (limit 50 µg/m³) | up to 19 µg/m³ — none over the limit | up to 0.59 µg/m³ |
| Air cadmium (NIOSH limit 5 µg/m³) | up to 6.4 µg/m³ — one worker over the limit | up to 0.05 µg/m³ |
| Non-processing surfaces with cadmium / lead | 9 / 11 of 12 | 12 / 13 of 13 |
- Every participating worker at both sites had lead and cadmium on their hands after washing up at the end of the shift.
- Workers wore cloth, nitrile and cut-resistant gloves — facility B's more consistently — but everyone reused them.
- Work clothes and shoes went home; neither site could launder them.
- Both sites dry-swept, which can put metal dust back into the air.
Shredding facilities may carry higher exposure than non-shredding ones, and metal left on washed hands shows the risk of take-home contamination.
Why it matters
Chronic lead exposure has been linked to health harm even at or below CDC's reference level, and long-term cadmium exposure is harmful too.
What employers should do
- Keep a written prevention program that measures and cuts exposure to hazardous metals.
- Require strict handwashing with lead-removing soap.
- Clean routinely so metal dust doesn't build up, and ban dry sweeping.
- Make workers wear gloves for disassembly and shredding, and provide clean inner gloves if cut-resistant or cloth gloves are reused.
Sources
Based on Reed Grimes, Catherine Beaucham and Jessica Ramsey, "Notes from the Field: Lead and Cadmium Exposure in Electronic Recyclers — Two States, 2015 and 2017," MMWR, volume 68, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; a work of the United States government in the public domain.
Licence: CC0 1.0 (public domain) · Adapted from www.cdc.gov
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