Key Points

Fire

• Cadmium dust/powder is flammable; solid is not flammable
• Reacts with oxidising agents and acids
• Slowly oxidised in air to form cadmium oxide
• In the event of a fire involving cadmium, use fine water spray and liquid-tight protective clothing with breathing apparatus

Health

• Toxic by inhalation and ingestion
• Harmful
• Short-term inhalation may cause irritation of the airways, shortness of breath or headache. Symptoms may be delayed for 4-8 hours
• Following short-term oral exposure no symptoms maybe seen for up to 1 hour. After this time, stomach upsets, swelling of the face, neck and throat, difficulty in breathing and in rare cases, death may occur
• Long-term ingestion leads to kidney failure
• Long-term inhalation causes kidney failure and decreases lung function
• Cadmium can cause cancer in humans

Environment

• Dangerous for the environment
• Inform Environment Agency of substantial incidents

 

All sections are available to download in PDF format.

 

• Cadmium - Full Document (PDF, 197 KB)
  HPA Compendium of Chemical Hazards Cadmium, version 5, 2011. This document will be reviewed not later than 3 years or sooner if substantive evidence becomes available.
  Added/updated: 13 January 2012
  
• General Information (PDF, 57 KB)
  Cadmium General information
  Added/updated: 21 March 2011
  
• Incident Management - Cadmium (PDF, 96 KB)
  Cadmium Incident management
  Added/updated: 13 January 2012
  
• Toxicological Overview - Cadmium (PDF, 66 KB)
  Cadmium Toxicological overview
  Added/updated: 21 March 2011