Many Ai Group members have workers that are involved in tasks that can release dusts, fibres, gases, fumes, vapours, or mists into the air. If this describes part of your business, this webinar helped you to understand current legal requirements and changes that are in progress.

Known as airborne contaminants, these dusts, gases, fumes, vapours or mists may be easy to see in the workplace or they may be invisible. People that breathe in airborne contaminants at work may be at risk of adverse health effects, some of which can be very serious.

Over recent years there has been an increasing focus by regulators on the management of airborne contaminants in workplaces. This is expected to increase in coming years, particularly as new workplace exposure limits (WEL), currently referred to as workplace exposure standards (WES), have been approved for implementation by 1 December 2026.

Employers must ensure that a worker is not exposed to an airborne contaminant which is above the WES/WEL.

In the majority of cases, the new WEL will be lower than the current WES. This means that businesses may have to introduce new controls to comply with Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws that require businesses to:

• eliminate or minimise, so far as is reasonably practicable, risks to health and safety, including the risks associated with airborne contaminants;
• apply the hierarchy of controls when managing airborne contaminants;
• ensure that no person at the workplace is exposed to a substance or mixture in an airborne concentration that exceeds the exposure standard (new exposure limit from 1 December 2026) for the substance or mixture; and
• in some circumstances, undertake air monitoring and/or health monitoring.

Businesses that do not know if they are complying with the current WES should take immediate action to ensure compliance. It is also advisable to take action now to assess whether the business will be able to comply with the new WEL, as the implementation of new controls may take some time.

It is also a good opportunity to review compliance with other aspects of the WHS laws related to airborne contaminants; it may be that you are compliant with the WES/WEL but can still do more to minimise the risks as far as is reasonably practicable.

The webinar provided a briefly touch on the obligations relating to the processing of products containing silica, e.g. bricks, concrete, roofing tiles. New regulations to be adopted are expected to be implemented in most jurisdictions on 1 September 2024. Victoria and the ACT already have regulations related to silica, which may also be amended in light of the model WHS regulations being finalised.

Presenters:

Tracey Browne, Manager, National WHS and Workers’ Compensation Policy and Membership Services, Ai Group

John Tiong, Principal Adviser, Work Health Safety and Environment Consulting, Ai Group