EU adds welding fumes to carcinogen list and caps cobalt exposure

Work involving exposure to welding fumes has been added to the EU list of carcinogenic, mutagenic and reprotoxic processes covered by occupational safety law, while binding exposure limits are introduced for cobalt and inorganic cobalt compounds. The change is made by Directive (EU) 2026/2450 of the European Parliament and of the Council, published in the Official Journal of the European Union, L series, of 30 October 2026.

What the co-legislators decided

The directive, adopted in Strasbourg on 21 October 2026 and signed by European Parliament President R. Metsola and Council President T. Dooley, amends Directive 2004/37/EC on the protection of workers from the risks related to exposure to carcinogens, mutagens or reprotoxic substances at work. It was adopted under the ordinary legislative procedure on the basis of Article 153(2), point (b), of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, following the Parliament’s position of 6 October 2026 and the Council’s decision of 19 October 2026.

The text follows the opinions of the Advisory Committee on Safety and Health at Work (ACSH) and of the Committee for Risk Assessment (RAC) of the European Chemicals Agency (ECHA). It also refines the definitions of “carcinogen”, “mutagen” and “reprotoxic substance” so that the substances, mixtures and processes listed in Annex I are covered by each of them.

Welding fumes enter Annex I

Annex I receives a new point 9: work involving exposure to fumes from welding processes containing substances or mixtures meeting the criteria for classification as a category 1A or 1B carcinogen, mutagen or reproductive toxicant under Regulation (EC) No 1272/2008. A footnote states that exposure must not exceed the Annex III limit value of any carcinogen, mutagen or reprotoxic substance released during welding.

The preamble records that the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified welding fumes as “carcinogenic to humans” (Group 1), and that such fumes may contain chromium(VI) compounds, nickel compounds, or cadmium and its inorganic compounds. Because there is no harmonised classification at Union level, the ACSH recommended listing only the work involving exposure. The Commission is also tasked, under the amended Article 18a, with assessing whether further limit values are needed for substances contained in welding fumes, and is invited to develop EU guidance alongside the 2018 Guidance for National Labour Inspectors.

Cobalt: new limits with a six-year transition

• Notation for dermal and respiratory sensitisation.
• Transitional values of 0,02 mg/m³ (inhalable) and 0,0042 mg/m³ (respirable) until 20 November 2032.
• Cobalt consumption is projected to rise by approximately 330 % by 2050, driven by the batteries sector and the green transition.

Other substances and deadlines

The same annex amends or adds several entries:

• Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons measured as benzo[a]pyrene: 0,00007 mg/m³, with 0,00014 mg/m³ until 20 November 2033 for nine listed sectors, from steel and iron foundries to train track welding and metal casting.
• Isoprene: 8,5 mg/m³ (3 ppm), EC No 201-143-3, CAS No 78-79-5.
• 1,4-dioxane: 7,3 mg/m³ (2 ppm) over eight hours and 73 mg/m³ (20 ppm) short-term, with a skin notation and a biological limit value of 45 mg HEAA in urine per gram of creatinine.
• Mercury and divalent inorganic mercury compounds: 0,02 mg/m³, now expressly limited to those falling within the scope of the directive.
• Lead: biological limit values of 30 µg Pb/100 ml blood until 31 December 2028 and 15 µg Pb/100 ml blood from 1 January 2029.

Employers must also provide personal protective equipment, in particular respiratory protection, only as a last resort where exposure cannot otherwise be avoided or adequately reduced, and workers wearing such equipment are entitled to regular breaks in an uncontaminated area. Member States have until 20 November 2028 to bring into force the necessary laws and administrative provisions; the directive enters into force on the twentieth day following its publication.

The revision forces thousands of workshops, shipyards and metalworking SMEs across the Union to revisit their risk assessments, since welding fumes are now a regulated process in their own right and not only a mixture of individually classified substances.

Source: Official Journal of the European Union, L series, No. 2026/2450, 30 October 2026, p. 1 (official reference: Directive (EU) 2026/2450, ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/2026/2450/oj).