Express your views on lead in the workplace
Safe Work Australia has just released the following:
Express your views on lead in the workplace Safe Work Australia invites you to have your say on proposed changes to work health and safety requirements for inorganic lead. Current scientific evidence suggests that current legislated blood lead levels and workplace exposure standards do not adequately protect worker health. Exposure standards are specified in the model Work Health and Safety Regulations as mandatory legal limits to protect the health of workers and minimise exposure to chemicals in the workplace. Safe Work Australia is seeking feedback on proposed amendments to blood lead levels and airborne lead concentrations, in particular options for: 1. Setting levels of lead in workers’ blood (blood lead levels) to identify: a) trigger points to commence mandatory health monitoring of workers 2. Setting maximum concentration levels of lead in air for workplaces. Workers and businesses involved with or undertaking lead risk work, regulators, occupational hygienists, work health and safety professionals and other interested stakeholders, are invited to comment on options put forward in the Consultation Regulation Impact Statement. We want to hear your thoughts on the options presented; the cost and impact to businesses, any technical barriers which may preclude adoption, and the degree to which businesses have already im plemented voluntary control measures beyond those prescribed in the regulations and workplace exposure standards. The public consultation period is open for 10 weeks. Submissions can be made via the Safe Work Australia public submissions website. Submissions close 5.30 pm AEDT, Friday 26 February 2016.
If you need the concentration of lead in your workplace air measured call Air Hazards on 0423 659 131. We can also test for lead paint and deposited lead dust. |
Safe Work Australia has released another Media release today:
New scientific evidence suggests current legislated blood lead levels, and workplace exposure standards for lead may not adequately protect all workers.
Safe Work Australia’s Chief Executive Officer, Michelle Baxter invites businesses and workers who deal with lead and lead products in their workplaces to comment on proposed changes to work health and safety requirements for inorganic lead.
“We are seeking feedback on proposed amendments to laws to improve workplace safety, including on the permitted levels of lead in workers’ blood and lead concentrations in the air; and the likely cost and impact to businesses any changes might have,” said Ms Baxter.
“We want work health and safety legislation to be evidence-based and to work to reduce adverse health outcomes while remaining practical for businesses to implement.”