This page serves as a directory of all the Victorian Trades Hall Council Standards.
What is a VTHC Standard?
VTHC Standards are endorsed by our Executive and are designed to contribute to the state of knowledge around specific hazards with the goal to protect workers' health and safety and contribute to the improvement of occupational health and safety regulations. They put forward VTHC's position on what the maximum exposure to a specific hazard should be. They provide a resource for HSRs and workers to use when talking about exposure to a hazard and are not to be confused with Australian exposure standards.
What are Exposure Standards?
The process of setting Exposure Standards in Australia is bureaucratic, involving majority consensus from the federal and all state and territory Governments with input from the various OHS regulators, representatives from business and trade unions and health professionals. As a result, setting or amending legal exposure limits can sometimes take years, if not decades. For example, the journey from recognising that engineered stone was behind a marked increase in lung cancer and mesothelioma, to banning the product was 8 years - and this was extraordinarily quick. These delays result in countless more workers being put at risk, getting sick and dying of avoidable illnesses.
Remember that just because a Standard imposes a maximum, it does not change the employer's duty to eliminate or reduce to provide so far as is reasonably practicable a working environment that is safe and without risks to health. This duty, when properly complied with, may result in levels far below the exposure standard. You can find out more about Exposure Standards here.
List of current VTHC Standards
Updated July 2024