Summary for nickel plating health risks Discussion
Nickel plating health risks are discussed in the context of a smoker working in a plating hall. Otto Sakovich says nickel plating itself is not generally reported to cause bloody noses, while chrome plating can, especially when hexavalent chromic acid is involved. He explains that chrome plating is much less efficient and can throw chromic acid mist into the air, making ventilation and fume suppressants critical. By contrast, nickel tanks usually release far less hazardous mist, though local exhaust ventilation is still appropriate. He also notes that tobacco contains nickel, and smoking around nickel work has been studied in refinery settings. In a follow-up, Otto says the acidic smell in the hall was more likely from hydrochloric acid dip/activation steps than from nickel plating, and the yellow oily residue might have been acid and oil, or possibly leftover chromic acid from older hexavalent chrome operations.
Intro to Chrome Plating
Q. So this is just a curiosity question, since I’m not a smoker myself but my colleague was an operator of the machinery that transports racks from bath to bath. He was always smoking without going out of the hall where all the plating takes place, and I was wondering what potential health risks and/or hazards it carries apart from what comes from cigarettes themselves? The hall is well ventilated, i always wore a N95 mask but no one else did. People who worked in other parts of the factory, when coming through plating hall, always complained about smell and bleeding of the nose or coughing. My colleague didn’t want to obey safety protocols and company didn’t care that much, but i was always curious what potential hazards smoking in such place could bring.
Otto Sakovich
Chemical Technologist – Nysa, Poland
July 28, 2025
A. Hi Otto,
To the best of my knowledge, nickel plating is not reported to lead to bloody noses, although chrome plating can.
Most chrome plating involves vats of chromic acid (hexavalent chrome), which most countries consider carcinogenic. Chrome plating is exceptionally low in efficiency ⇦ huh?, with at least 75% of the applied electricity creating hydrogen bubbles instead of depositing chrome. These bubbles cause a ginger ale or champagne effect, entraining chromic acid into the workspace and the environment. Fume suppressants and excellent ventilation are critical control measures.
Back to nickel plating, it is way more efficient than chrome plating, releasing far less hydrogen bubbles. Most of the “mist” one sees from a nickel tank is simply steam rather than anything noxious, but that does not mean it is absolutely harmless, just far less dangerous than chromic acid. These days it is probably appropriate to equip nickel plating tanks with local exhaust ventilation.
Tobacco includes nickel, but a good number of smokers who work with nickel, especially in Canada’s major nickel refineries, have acquired cancer, so it has been the subject of several studies, an abstract of one of them is here ⇨
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.
Yes, after nickel plating, chrome was plated as well, however it was trivalent chrome, which I know is much less harmful than hexavalent. We also had baths with solutions for hexavalent chromium plating which were not in use anymore.
What I also noticed is that air seemed to be very acidic in that hall, when leaving ph papers for a night, they showed very acidic ph, and many objects had droplets of yellow oily substance on the bottom, which I assume was hydrochloric acid.
Otto Sakovich
Chemical technologist – Nysa, Poland
July 28, 2025
A. Hi.
Hydrochloric acid is almost always incorporated in plating as a rust-remover and activating solution before the plating step, and the environment in plating shops is often acidic. The smell you encounter seems far more likely to be from the hydrochloric acid dip step than from nickel plating, although it too has a smell.
Hopefully that yellow oily stuff is indeed acid and oil, but it might be chromic acid from your previous hexavalent chrome plating days.
Luck & Regards,
Ted Mooney, P.E. RET
Striving to live Aloha
finishing.com – Pine Beach, New Jersey
Need quick confidential answers? $25
Need project assistance? $100/hr.