Welding and REACH - legal obligations and good practices
The purpose of this guidance is both to assist in ensuring workers’ health during various welding+ processes and to facilitate compliance with the associated legal requirements for registrants and downstream users under REACH. It provides information on how to effectively communicate risk management measures to users of welding consumables. Under REACH, the main tool supporting this communication are so-called use maps that comprehensively describe the exposure scenarios relevant for welding processes (including formal use descriptors according to the relevant ECHA guidance (ECHA, 2015) and the specific conditions of use that enable safe welding). The relevant use map has been posted on the ECHA website in the use maps library here
This use map covers industrial, professional uses and service life of welding+ consumables and substances contained in articles to be welded. Consumer uses and service life scenarios are considered as “semi-professional” and are thus inherently covered by the respective professional use map entry (please see supporting guidance). Conditions of use are exclusively provided for worker contributing scenarios (i.e., not for environmental contributing scenarios).
Last page update: 23 October 2025