Hexavalent chromium is estimated to cause around 59 occupational lung cancer deaths a year in Great Britain, yet the trades that handle it — chrome platers, chromate painters and stainless-steel welders — are still working with a proven Group 1 carcinogen. The key UK hexavalent chromium statistics for 2026, fully sourced.
Hexavalent chromium — Cr(VI), also written “chromium 6” — is the toxic, water-soluble form of chromium used in electroplating, chromate paints and pigments, leather tanning, and generated in the fume from cutting and welding stainless steel. This page gathers the key UK statistics in one place: how many lung cancer cases it causes, how many workers are exposed, what the legal exposure limit is, and which jobs carry the highest risk. The figures come from the Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) occupational cancer burden research, HSE guidance leaflet INDG346 “Chromium and You”, the workplace exposure limits set out in HSE EH40/2005, and the Industrial Injuries Advisory Council’s (IIAC) 2025 review of Chromium VI and lung cancer.
Key facts and figures
- ~59 occupational lung cancer deaths a year in Great Britain are attributed to chromium (43 men + 16 women), 2005 reference year.
- ~67 occupational lung cancer registrations a year are attributed to chromium (49 men + 18 women), 2004 reference year.
- ~687,000 GB workers were “ever exposed” to chromium over the risk-exposure period (~444,000 men + ~243,000 women).
- 0.010 mg/m³ is the current GB workplace exposure limit for Cr(VI) compounds (8-hour TWA, non-process-generated), effective 17 January 2020.
- Group 1 — hexavalent chromium compounds are classified a known human carcinogen by IARC and the US NTP Report on Carcinogens.
- SMR 185 — male chrome platers in a Yorkshire cohort had a lung cancer standardised mortality ratio of 185 (60 observed vs 32.5 expected).
- Since 1986 — “poisoning by chromium” has been a prescribed industrial disease in the UK, potentially entitling workers to benefit.
- 0.18% of all GB lung cancers are attributable to occupational chromium exposure (95% CI 0.12–0.25%).
These are the latest published figures available as of July 2026, and this page is updated when new data is released. There is no annual Cr(VI)-specific UK dataset, so the refresh cadence is slow: this page is reviewed annually and refreshed on any EH40 workplace-exposure-limit change for chromates, REACH chromate-authorisation developments, new HSE occupational-cancer burden or enforcement updates, and any IIAC prescribed-disease decision.
How many UK lung cancer cases does chromium cause each year?
Chromium is estimated to cause around 59 occupational lung cancer deaths a year in Great Britain — 43 in men and 16 in women — based on HSE’s occupational cancer burden research (Rushton, Hutchings and colleagues), using a 2005 reference year for deaths. On the registrations side, the same body of work attributes roughly 67 new lung cancer registrations a year to chromium (49 men + 18 women), using a 2004 reference year. These estimates were published in 2012 and remain HSE’s current figures; there is no scheduled update, so they should be read as a slow-moving order-of-magnitude estimate rather than a live annual count.
In proportional terms, occupational chromium exposure accounts for an estimated 0.22% of male lung cancers and 0.11% of female lung cancers in Great Britain — an overall attributable fraction of about 0.18% (95% CI 0.12–0.25%). That share sounds small, but against the roughly 35,000 lung cancer deaths recorded in the UK each year it maps onto dozens of preventable occupational deaths. The key point for a COSHH audience is that every one of these cancers is caused by a substance whose exposure is legally required to be controlled.
| Measure | Figure | Data period |
|---|---|---|
| Occupational lung cancer deaths attributed to chromium | ~59 a year (43 M + 16 F) | 2005 reference year (HSE burden) |
| Occupational lung cancer registrations attributed to chromium | ~67 a year (49 M + 18 F) | 2004 reference year (HSE burden) |
| Attributable fraction — male lung cancers | 0.22% | HSE RR858 / Br J Cancer 2012 |
| Attributable fraction — female lung cancers | 0.11% | HSE RR858 / Br J Cancer 2012 |
| Overall attributable fraction — GB lung cancer | ~0.18% (95% CI 0.12–0.25%) | HSE RR858 / Br J Cancer 2012 |
How many UK workers are exposed to hexavalent chromium?
An estimated 687,000 workers in Great Britain were “ever exposed” to chromium over the risk-exposure period used in HSE’s occupational cancer burden work — about 444,000 men and 243,000 women. That is a cumulative, historical measure of everyone who passed through an exposed job during the relevant window, not a snapshot of who is exposed today, so it is best read as an indicator of the scale of the exposed population rather than a current headcount.
For a wider European frame of reference, the EU CAREX exposure database estimated that around 785,692 workers were occupationally exposed to hexavalent chromium compounds across the EU on its 1990–93 baseline, with welders and electroplaters among the largest single exposed groups. More recent fieldwork under the EU HBM4EU Chromates Study (2017–2019) measured Cr(VI) exposure directly in plating and welding workplaces across nine countries, including the UK, confirming that measurable exposure persists in these trades despite tighter limits. Because chromium exposure often comes from a process — a plating bath, a spray gun, a welding arc — rather than a labelled container, it is one of the hazards most easily missed in a COSHH risk assessment, and it is firmly a substance covered by COSHH.
What is the UK workplace exposure limit for hexavalent chromium?
The current GB workplace exposure limit (WEL) for hexavalent chromium compounds is 0.010 mg/m³ as an 8-hour time-weighted average for chromium that is not generated by a process, and 0.025 mg/m³ for process-generated Cr(VI) such as welding fume — both effective from 17 January 2020 under HSE EH40/2005. These replaced the previous single WEL of 0.05 mg/m³, a fivefold tightening for the non-process-generated case. Note that the older 0.05 mg/m³ figure is still printed in HSE’s INDG346 “Chromium and You” leaflet, whose current edition dates from 2013 and pre-dates the 2020 change — always cross-check the limit against the latest EH40. Non-hexavalent (other) chromium compounds have a separate, much higher WEL of 0.5 mg/m³ (8-hour TWA), reflecting their far lower toxicity.
Because Cr(VI) is a carcinogen, meeting the WEL is not the end of the duty: under the COSHH Regulations exposure to a carcinogen must be reduced as low as is reasonably practicable, well below the limit wherever possible, following the hierarchy of control — substitution and engineering controls such as tank extraction and local exhaust ventilation before reliance on respiratory protective equipment.
| Substance / basis | Workplace exposure limit (8-hr TWA) | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Cr(VI) compounds — non-process-generated | 0.010 mg/m³ | Current (effective 17 Jan 2020) |
| Cr(VI) compounds — process-generated (e.g. welding fume) | 0.025 mg/m³ | Current (effective 17 Jan 2020) |
| Cr(VI) compounds — previous single WEL | 0.05 mg/m³ | Superseded (still shown in INDG346 rev1, 2013) |
| Other (non-hexavalent) chromium compounds | 0.5 mg/m³ | Current |
Which jobs have the highest hexavalent chromium exposure?
Chrome platers and surface-finishers, chromate spray painters, and stainless-steel welders carry the highest hexavalent chromium exposure, and the epidemiology behind that ranking is stark. A UK chromate-production cohort of 2,298 workers across three factories (Davies et al. 1991) recorded a lung cancer standardised mortality ratio (SMR) of 1.97 (95% CI 1.59–2.28) overall, rising to 2.45 in the highest-exposure jobs — roughly a doubling to two-and-a-half-fold increase in lung cancer mortality. A separate UK chrome-plating cohort of 1,087 platers in Yorkshire (Sorahan & Harrington 2000) found a lung cancer SMR of 185 in male platers, with 60 observed deaths against 32.5 expected (p<0.001) — an excess that is very unlikely to be down to chance.
Pooling the wider evidence, a meta-analysis of 44 cohort studies (Deng et al. 2019) reported a pooled lung cancer SMR of 1.31 (95% CI 1.17–1.47) for Cr(VI)-exposed workers, with the highest risks concentrated in chromate production, electroplating and welding. In short, the harder and longer the exposure, the steeper the excess — which is exactly why the trades handling Cr(VI) directly, rather than incidentally, sit at the top of the risk list.
| Cohort / study | Lung cancer risk measure | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| UK chromate production (Davies et al. 1991) | SMR 1.97 (95% CI 1.59–2.28) | 2,298 workers, 3 factories; 2.45 in high-exposure jobs |
| UK chrome plating (Sorahan & Harrington 2000) | SMR 185 | 1,087 Yorkshire platers; 60 observed vs 32.5 expected (p<0.001) |
| Meta-analysis (Deng et al. 2019) | Pooled SMR 1.31 (95% CI 1.17–1.47) | 44 cohorts; highest in production, plating, welding |
How much hexavalent chromium is in stainless-steel welding fume?
Welding or cutting stainless steel generates fume that contains hexavalent chromium and nickel, and HSE names Cr(VI) as one of the agents that make stainless-steel welding fume a cause of occupational asthma and lung cancer. The amount produced depends on the process: manual metal arc (MMA, or “stick”) welding generates substantially more Cr(VI) and nickel fume than TIG or MIG welding, so process choice is itself a control measure. Since 2019, HSE has treated all welding fume — mild steel included — as a carcinogen following the IARC reclassification of welding fume to Group 1, meaning suitable exposure control is required for any indoor welding regardless of the metal.
It is worth being precise about the boundary here. HSE’s February 2019 safety alert STSU1-2019 addressed mild-steel welding fume generally and does not itself concern hexavalent chromium — it is cited here only as the marker for the enforcement shift, not as a Cr(VI) statistic. The hexavalent chromium subset of welding fume arises specifically when stainless steel and other high-chromium alloys are worked. General and mild-steel welding fume as a topic sits outside this page’s lane; this page owns the Cr(VI) slice, including the Cr(VI)-in-stainless-welding-fume subset and the non-welding sources — plating, chromate paints and pigments, and leather tanning.
What are the health effects of hexavalent chromium exposure?
Hexavalent chromium compounds are classified a Group 1 carcinogen — known to cause cancer in humans — by both IARC and the US National Toxicology Program’s Report on Carcinogens (15th Edition, 2021). Occupational Cr(VI) exposure is causally linked to lung cancer and to cancer of the paranasal sinuses and nasal cavity (sinonasal cancer). Beyond cancer, repeated exposure can cause a recognisable pattern of non-malignant harm: nasal ulceration and, in heavier historic exposures, perforation of the nasal septum, occupational asthma, allergic contact dermatitis and painful skin lesions known as “chrome ulcers”, and kidney damage.
These health endpoints are precisely why chromium work triggers COSHH health-surveillance duties. The dermatitis and asthma risks overlap with two of this site’s other statistics pages — see occupational dermatitis statistics for the skin burden and occupational asthma statistics for the respiratory-sensitiser burden — but this page owns the chromium substance itself. HSE’s INDG346 “Chromium and You” leaflet sets out the same list of effects and the controls expected of employers, and the supplier’s safety data sheet is where the carcinogen and sensitiser hazards are flagged.
Is hexavalent chromium a prescribed disease you can claim for?
Yes — “poisoning by chromium” has been a prescribed industrial disease in the UK since 1986, and primary lung carcinoma linked to occupational exposure to zinc, calcium or strontium chromate is a prescribed cancer, potentially entitling an affected worker to Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit (IIDB). Prescription means a worker who has done a listed job and developed the listed disease does not have to prove causation from scratch — the link is presumed for benefit purposes, subject to the scheme’s rules on the job done and the level of assessed disablement.
The prescription was examined again in the IIAC review Chromium VI and Lung Cancer, published on 3 June 2025, which brought together the UK chromate-production and chrome-plating cohort evidence alongside the wider meta-analytic data. This is a one-off review rather than an annual dataset, so its findings will only change the prescription if IIAC re-opens it; this page is refreshed if that happens. Workers who believe their lung cancer or chromium poisoning was caused by their job should seek advice on an IIDB claim, and a doctor who links the disease to a known workplace exposure has RIDDOR reporting duties.
Frequently asked questions
What is the UK workplace exposure limit (WEL) for hexavalent chromium?
The current GB workplace exposure limit for hexavalent chromium compounds is 0.010 mg/m³ (8-hour time-weighted average) for chromium not generated by a process, and 0.025 mg/m³ for process-generated Cr(VI) such as welding fume, both effective from 17 January 2020 under EH40/2005. These replaced the previous single limit of 0.05 mg/m³. Because Cr(VI) is a carcinogen, exposure must still be reduced as low as is reasonably practicable, not merely kept under the limit.
How many UK lung cancer cases are caused by chromium at work each year?
HSE’s occupational cancer burden research attributes around 59 lung cancer deaths a year (43 men, 16 women, 2005 reference year) and about 67 lung cancer registrations a year (49 men, 18 women, 2004 reference year) in Great Britain to occupational chromium exposure. That is an overall attributable fraction of roughly 0.18% of all GB lung cancers.
Which jobs have the highest hexavalent chromium exposure?
Chrome platers and surface-finishers, chromate spray painters, and stainless-steel welders have the highest exposure. UK cohort studies found a lung cancer SMR of 185 among Yorkshire chrome platers and 1.97 (up to 2.45 in high-exposure jobs) in chromate-production workers, while a 44-study meta-analysis put the pooled excess at 1.31, highest in chromate production, plating and welding.
Is hexavalent chromium a prescribed disease you can claim for in the UK?
Yes. “Poisoning by chromium” has been a prescribed industrial disease since 1986, and primary lung cancer linked to zinc, calcium or strontium chromate is a prescribed cancer, so an affected worker who has done a listed job may be able to claim Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit. The IIAC reviewed the Cr(VI) and lung cancer prescription in June 2025.
Related guides
- COSHH Statistics UK: Hazardous Substances at Work
- Silica Dust Statistics UK: Exposure, Deaths & Rates
- Occupational Asthma Statistics UK: Cases, Causes & Rates
- Occupational Dermatitis Statistics UK: Cases & Causes
- What Substances Are Covered by COSHH? (And What Isn’t)
Sources & references
- HSE — INDG346(rev1) “Chromium and You” (current edition, 2013)
- GOV.UK / IIAC — Chromium VI and Lung Cancer prescribed-disease review (published 3 June 2025)
- HSE — EH40/2005 Workplace Exposure Limits (2020 edition; Cr(VI) WEL change effective 17 Jan 2020)
- Rushton, Hutchings et al. — Occupational cancer in Britain: respiratory cancer sites, Br J Cancer 2012 (HSE burden / RR858)
- US NCI / NTP — Chromium hexavalent compounds, Report on Carcinogens 15th Edition (2021); IARC Group 1
- HSE — Health risks from welding (Cr(VI) in stainless/MMA fume; welding fume as Group 1 carcinogen)
- HSE — Safety Alert STSU1-2019: mild-steel welding fume (boundary reference; no Cr(VI) content)
- HBM4EU Chromates Study — Cr(VI) exposure in plating and welding across nine EU countries incl. the UK (fieldwork 2017–2019)
Make sure your team can recognise hexavalent chromium in plating baths, chromate paints and stainless-steel welding fume, and apply the right controls before exposure causes cancer.
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Mark writes about workplace health & safety, COSHH and accredited online training for COSHH Training, part of Online CPD Academy.