What are the WEL (Workplace Exposure Limits) for welding fumes monitoring?

The UK has a general exposure limit for Welding Fume (general dust) at 10 mg/m³ (inhalable) and 4 mg/m³ (respirable).

But it doesn’t stop there — many welding fumes contain metals with their own much lower limits. For example:

• Manganese: 0.2 mg/m³

• Hexavalent chromium: 0.01 mg/m³

• Nickel compounds: 0.1 mg/m³

So, when testing welding fumes, labs usually analyse the individual metals rather than lump everything together. This is the only way to know if controls are truly adequate.