New workplace exposure limits: what should be reviewed before December? 

Nine weeks. That’s what’s left before the new workplace exposure limits take effect on 1 December 2026, and engineering controls carry lead times through assessment, design, budget approval, manufacture and install. 

The review itself is quick. Four things: the substances the site generates, the monitoring data that measured them, the controls in place, and the records behind those decisions. Most of it can be done from a desk this week, which is the point. The work that takes time is what comes after. 

Overview. 

• The new limits apply from 1 December 2026, with no transition period beyond that date. 

• A substance shortlist comes first, since most sites are touched by a handful of changes rather than the whole list. 

• Existing air monitoring is still useful, read against the new values and checked for the right fraction. 

• Engineering controls carry the most weight with regulators and the longest lead times on site. 

• Sites that scope and order now install on their own schedule

A substance shortlist is the first review step. 

A substance shortlist is the first review step because it turns a broad regulatory change into a short, specific list. Walk the changes against what the site actually does: what gets welded, cut, milled, baked, sprayed or batched, and what plant runs indoors. Most sites come out of that with four or five entries to act on, which is a far easier conversation than a national reform. 

Safe Work Australia’s Changes to Workplace Exposure Limits covers the full set, and the announcement of the new list confirms the timing. Both have been public since 2025, which is what makes this a review rather than a wait. 

What to flag on site. 

• Hot work: Welding, cutting and grinding, particularly on stainless and coated steel. 

• Dust generation: Sawing, sanding, sieving, tipping, batching and bagging. 

• Diesel plant indoors: Forklifts, trucks and mobile plant in enclosed or semi-enclosed areas. 

• Process chemicals: Dosing, sanitising, spraying and two-pack coating. 

Five changes reach most Australian sites. 

Five changes account for most of the industrial impact. If the site does any of the work in the right-hand column, at least one applies. 

Diesel particulate catches the most people out, because it creates an obligation where none existed. A warehouse that has never thought about air monitoring now has a number attached to the forklifts running through it. 

Old monitoring data still has a job to do. 

Old monitoring data still has a job to do, read against the new values instead of the ones it was measured against. A result that looked comfortable before may not look the same now, and that is much better to find out from a report sitting in a filing cabinet than from a survey in 2027. 

Check what was measured while you are there. Several substances now split into separate inhalable and respirable limits, and respirable is the harder test, so a report that only covers the coarser fraction may not answer the question being asked. 

Engineering controls carry the most weight, and the longest lead times. 

Engineering controls carry the most weight because WHS law asks whether the most effective reasonably practicable controls were applied, not just whether anyone was exposed. Elimination and substitution sit above them, administrative controls and masks below. That order also happens to run from quickest to slowest, which is why the middle of it needs attention now rather than in November. 

Capturing fume or dust where it is created, before it reaches the person doing the work, does more per cubic metre of air moved than anything else. General extraction, make-up air and confined space ventilation each have their own requirements and affect each other, so scoping them together gives a better answer than buying them separately. Fanquip’s guide to fume extraction systems covers where each type fits. 

The review should follow the process, not the equipment list. 

The review should follow the process rather than the equipment list, because everything in a ventilation design traces back to one input: the concentration it has to hold. A system specified before 2026 was built around a different number, which makes this a design question rather than a shopping question. 

That often works in a site’s favour. Full replacement is rarely the answer, and the fix is frequently smaller than expected. It does take someone sizing against the new figure to say which, since dropping in a bigger fan on its own rarely closes the gap. 

Five checks before December. 

1. Confirm the substances. Build the shortlist from the processes actually running. 

2. Re-read the monitoring. Check results against the new values and confirm the right fraction was measured. 

3. Review the hierarchy. Establish what can be eliminated or substituted before scoping equipment. 

4. Check the whole system. Capture points, general extraction and make-up air all affect real performance. 

5. Document the reasoning. Assessments and verification reports are the evidence of a reasonable approach. 

Timing is a commercial question as well as a compliance one. 

Timing is a commercial question because engineering controls run through assessment, design, budget approval, manufacture, install and verification, and quoting slows as every site in the region approaches the same deadline. 

Assessment, design and budget approval all fit inside the remaining window comfortably. Manufacture and install depend on scope and how early the order lands. Anything still open on 1 December gets prioritised by risk, and a documented assessment with work under way is a much better position than a site that has not started, because it shows how the decisions were made. 

Where to start. 

Fanquip has designed and manufactured industrial ventilation, extraction and filtration in Australia since 1984, and the team looks at processes, exposure targets, building conditions and make-up air together rather than treating a compliance gap as a standalone equipment change. 

Download The 2026 Workplace Exposure Limit Changes for the full set of changes and a readiness plan, or book a ventilation assessment before the December run begins. 

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