[6] The World Health Organization recommends a maximum allowable concentration of 0.05 milligrams per litre of chromium(VI) in drinking water.

Metal workers (such as welders)—as well as people with a surgical implant made from cobalt-chromium alloy—may also be exposed to hexavalent chromium.

[8] Chromium concentrations in whole blood, plasma, serum, or urine may be measured to monitor for safety in exposed workers, to confirm the diagnosis in potential poisoning victims, or to assist in the forensic investigation in a case of fatal overdosage.

[9] In the U.S. state of California, an epidemic of hexavalent chromium exposure led to a class-action lawsuit in 1993: Anderson, et al. v. Pacific Gas and Electric.

The Pacific Gas and Electric Company had dumped more than 1.4 billion litres (370 million gallons) of wastewater tainted with hexavalent chromium into the Mojave Desert.

Workers that have been exposed to strong chromate solutions in electroplating, tanning, and chrome-producing manufacturers may also develop chrome ulcers.

[14][15][16] Hexavalent chromium is genotoxic: it damages genetic information in living cells, which results in DNA mutations, and possibly the formation of cancerous tumors.

[19] Ordinarily, cellular transport mechanisms in humans and some other animals limit the amount of chromium(III) that enters a cell.