On 1 December this year most jurisdictions in Australia will transition to the Workplace exposure limits for airborne contaminants (WEL list). The changes include 177 substances that have their exposure limits reduced, 31 substances with limits for the first time, 40 substances with limits increased and 30 substances with limits removed (mostly to be categorised as no threshold carcinogens).
Excluded from this list were nine chemicals. In 2021 OHS/WHS Ministers requested further assessment in response to some employer groups claiming that evidence was not considered in the analysis and that the recommendation if adopted would result in significant regulatory burden.
Safe Work Australia has since completed those further assessments and confirmed for a second time that the existing exposure limits for the remaining nine chemicals are failing to protect workers’ health. Safe Work Australia’s latest recommendations for these nine chemicals will bring Australia into line with international standards.
Unions, through the ACTU, have joined five public health organisations, including the Cancer Council, to call on Work Health and Safety (WHS) Ministers across the country to lower exposure limits for nine hazardous chemicals at the end of the month when they are due to respond to new limits recommended by Safe Work Australia.
The nine chemicals include the known carcinogens benzene, formaldehyde, and respirable crystalline silica, as well as chlorine, copper, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen dioxide, and titanium dioxide.
With workers in industries like healthcare, water treatment, mining, construction, manufacturing and energy impacted by exposure to these nine chemicals, the ACTU is calling on WHS Ministers to immediately adopt these more protective levels for the remaining chemicals to protect workers from adverse health effects, both acute and chronic.
Victoria regulates workplace exposure to hazardous substances through its own OHS Act, OHS Regulations, the Dangerous Goods Act 1985 and Dangerous Goods (Storage and Handling) Regulations 2022. Although Victoria has not adopted the model WHS laws, it does reference SWA’s WES list in its OHS Regulations and DG SH Regulations. A separate Regulatory Impact Assessment has been completed that recommended adopting the full list. The Victorian government has conducted their own Regulatory Impact Assessment into the adoption of Safe Work Australia’s workplace exposure limits. The decision on whether Victoria adopts the new WEL list will rest with Minister for WorkSafe and the TAC Ben Carroll.
Join the call to protect workers by signing the Lower Limits Save Lives petition now.
Read more: Australian workers exposed to unsafe chemicals - Australian Council of Trade Unions