New Workplace Exposure Limits: What's Changing for Food Businesses

From 1 December 2026, Australia is replacing its current Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) with new Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) - the legal thresholds for how much dust, gas, fume, vapour or mist a worker can safely be exposed to in the air (SafeWork NSW). For food manufacturing and food service businesses, where flour dust, sanitising chemicals, and processing fumes are part of daily operations, this change is worth understanding well before the deadline.

The shift affects hundreds of substances across the Safe Work Australia list, not just the handful that make headlines. Because the changes vary from substance to substance, the safest approach is to treat this as a full review of your site’s airborne exposure risks rather than a single number to check off.

What's Changing, and When

WES have been in place since 1995 and were last comprehensively reviewed in 2003. In 2018, WHS Ministers agreed to rename them Workplace Exposure Limits to make clear these are hard limits, not general guidelines, and to bring Australia’s terminology in line with international standards (SafeWork NSW).

Following a full scientific review, WHS Ministers agreed to a revised WEL list in April 2024, published by Safe Work Australia. In many cases, the new limits are lower than the current standards - so a compliant workplace today may not automatically be compliant after the transition. By 1 December 2026, businesses must continue meeting the current WES.

It is worth being clear on what a workplace exposure limit actually is. It is not a target to aim for; it is a legally enforceable ceiling on how much of a substance a worker can breathe over an eight-hour shift, expressed as a time-weighted average. Once the WEL takes effect, exceeding it is a compliance breach in its own right, regardless of whether anyone has shown obvious symptoms.

Why It Matters for Food Businesses

Airborne contaminants aren’t limited to heavy industry. In food manufacturing and food service environments, common sources include:

  • Dust from flour, powdered ingredients, or packaging materials

  • Vapours from cleaning and sanitising chemicals used for food safety compliance

  • Fumes or gases from processing, refrigeration, or equipment maintenance

As a Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU), you’re legally required to ensure no one in your workplace is exposed above the exposure limit (SafeWork NSW). Because the new WEL may tighten some thresholds, controls that pass today’s test could fall short in 2026 - meaning re-testing, additional ventilation, or process changes may be needed. Getting ahead of this now avoids a scramble (and potential non-compliance) closer to the deadline.

There is a genuine health case behind the change, too. Long-term exposure to airborne dusts, fumes, and vapours is linked to occupational asthma, respiratory irritation, and other chronic lung conditions. The effects tend to build gradually over years rather than appearing overnight, which is exactly why a fixed, enforceable limit matters - it protects the people who spend their entire careers around these substances, not just those exposed to a one-off spike.

Non-compliance carries real consequences beyond worker health. Regulators can issue improvement or prohibition notices, and in serious cases, penalties apply, alongside the reputational cost of a visible WHS failure.

Your Compliance Action Plan

  1. Review your controls now. Map every process in your facility that releases dust, fumes, vapours, gases or mists, and check it against the incoming WEL using the Safe Work Australia comparative table. Prioritise the processes with the highest handling volume or the least ventilation first.

  2. Get exposure monitoring done. If you’re unsure whether current levels will meet the new limits, engage an occupational hygienist for personal exposure monitoring - a single sample rarely tells the full story, so testing may need to run over several days or at different times of year. Safe Work Australia’s factsheet on engaging an occupational hygienist is a useful starting point.

  3. Check out your health monitoring obligations. If your workers are exposed to certain hazardous chemicals, health monitoring through a registered medical practitioner is required - and it’s the employer’s responsibility to organise and pay for it.

  4. Know your reporting duties. If exposure to respirable crystalline silica exceeds the current standard, you’re required to notify SafeWork NSW directly.

  5. Stay compliant in the meantime. The current WES remains legally binding until 1 December 2026 - this is not a wait-and-see change.

Common Questions from Food Businesses

  • Do I have to comply with the current WES until the changeover?

    Yes. Until 1 December 2026, you must continue meeting the current Workplace Exposure Standards in full, even though the new WEL has already been published.

  • Can I average exposure across the working week instead of the day?

    No. The eight-hour time-weighted average applies per shift. You cannot exceed the daily limit on some days and offset it with lower exposure to others.

  • Who can carry out health monitoring for our team?

    A registered medical practitioner with relevant experience, such as those affiliated with the Australian and New Zealand Society of Occupational Medicine. A GP can often provide a referral if you’re not sure where to start.

  • Is one air monitoring test enough to prove compliance?

    Rarely. Exposure levels fluctuate with tasks, seasons and staffing, so most sites need monitoring across several days, or repeated at different times of year, before the results can be relied on.

Helpful Resources from Safe Work Australia

Safe Work Australia has published a full resource library to help businesses through the transition, including:

How Can Foodcare Help You?

Getting ready is largely practical, and that is where Foodcare comes in. Once you understand where your exposure levels stand, we can help you put the right gear in place: respirators and face masks matched to dust, fume and vapour exposure, eye protection and protective gloves for chemical handling, surface sanitisers formulated for food-safe environments, and washdown equipment so cleaning does not stir contaminants back into the air.

You don’t have to work it out alone. Talk to a Foodcare specialist, and we will help you review your site, choose the right products for each task, and build a simple kit list you can act on before December.

Get in Touch

  • Call 1 800 211 290 and ask to speak with a product specialist

  • Email team@foodcare.com.au

  • Send an enquiry through our contact page and a team member will get back to you shortly

Preparing early gives your business time to test, adjust, and document compliance well before the December 2026 deadline - rather than reacting under pressure once the new limits are already in force.

This article is general awareness information, not legal or WHS advice. Confirm your specific obligations with a qualified WHS professional or occupational hygienist.