From December 1, 2026, Australia will adopt the Workplace Exposure Limits for Airborne Contaminants (the WEL list). Before that date, persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) must continue to comply with the Workplace Exposure Standards for Airborne Contaminants (the WES list).
The revision of the list will directly affect the data to be presented in Section 8 of Australian SDSs. Enterprises should carry out verification and updates as soon as possible to meet the new requirements.
What Is the WEL?
In Australian regulatory documents, an airborne contaminant refers to a contaminant present in the form of fume, mist, gas, vapour or dust, including micro-organisms. Such airborne contaminants are potentially harmful substances; they may not occur naturally in the air, or may be present at unusually high concentrations, and workers may be exposed to them in the working environment. These airborne contaminants, which may be invisible or undetectable by smell, may derive from chemicals or materials used in the workplace, or be generated during work processes. Businesses must ensure that the concentration of contaminants to which any person in the workplace is exposed does not exceed the exposure limit.
Australia decided to rename the WES list as the WEL list to communicate that the values are limits not to be exceeded, and to align Australia with the terminology used internationally.
What Are the Changes After the Update?
- Changes to individual exposure limits and notations: decreases or increases in exposure limit values, changes to the type of exposure listing, merging or splitting of groups of airborne contaminants, changes to the names of airborne contaminant listings, and additions or removals of airborne contaminant listings;
- The WEL list adds 31 new airborne contaminants;
- The sensitisation ("SEN") notation has been split into dermal (skin) sensitisation ("DSEN") and respiratory sensitisation ("RSEN");
- An ototoxicity ("OTO") notation has been introduced for certain airborne contaminants; exposure to an airborne contaminant with an "OTO" notation can increase the risk of hearing loss, especially if a worker is also exposed to noise at the same time;
- The carcinogenicity ("CARC") notation has been removed;
- Thirty-three airborne contaminants have been confirmed as non-threshold genotoxic carcinogens (NTGCs) and removed from the WEL list into a new list. From December 1, 2026, there will no longer be exposure limits for NTGCs. NTGCs must be eliminated from the workplace, replaced with safer alternatives if possible, or the risk reduced as much as reasonably practicable.
The latest WEL list is available on ChemRadar: https://hgt.cirs-group.com/lawinfo/detail/fw4qevr2cqo0
CIRS Group reminds enterprises that have prepared, or will need to prepare, Australian SDSs to contact us as soon as possible to review and update their existing SDSs, or to prepare SDSs in accordance with the latest standard, in preparation for the WEL list to be implemented at the end of the year.
