Dust strategy

The NSW Dust Strategy 2020-2022 aims to prevent occupational diseases by providing NSW workers and businesses with a coordinated approach for the safe handling of hazardous dust including asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts.

Injuries and fatalities due to exposure to asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts are preventable.

Applying control measures such as, always engaging a licensed asbestos professional for asbestos removal work, using simple controls such as water and dust capture tools when working with silica; and always wear appropriate personal protective equipment, including a correctly fitted respiratory face mask when working with asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts.

Objectives of the NSW Dust Strategy 2020-2022

The NSW Dust Strategy 2020-2022 strategy aims to ensure that SafeWork NSW and industry can:

respond to current and emerging dust-related harms by following three key principles that apply to all dust:
- identify the hazard
- handle it safely
- dispose of it responsibly
prevent dust exposure with reduction activities that carry the key elements of compliance, regulation, awareness and education in all programs
educate workers about dust exposure with consistent communication of best-practice safety controls appropriate to different dust types and work activities.

The NSW Dust Strategy (PDF 234kb) is aligned to SafeWork’s hazardous chemicals exposure reduction programs under the NSW WHS Roadmap 2022

Asbestos, crystalline silica, wood and other dusts are specifically targeted as the top priority areas.

Control measures for dust

The complexity of disease-related harms include: long latencies, conflicting attitudes and beliefs, complex regulations and competing for priority in the workplace with more immediate risks to safety.

Control measure	Asbestos	Silica	Wood and other products
Substitute materials	Yes	Yes	Yes
Train workers	Yes	Yes	Yes
Ventilate work area	No	Yes	Yes
Negative air pressure	Yes	No	No
Wet cut	No	Yes	No
Dust capture	Yes	Yes	Yes
Masks and PPE	Yes	Yes	Yes
Vaccum class M	No	Yes	Yes
Vacuum class H	Yes	Yes	Yes
Wet clean-up	Yes	Yes	Yes
Licenced contractors	Yes	No	No

Air monitoring

Air monitoring must be conducted at the workplace to find the levels of silica or wood dust in the air, when required under clause 50 of the WHS Regulation. See airborne contaminants.

Air monitoring must be conducted in the workplace to find the level of asbestos fibres in the air when required under Clause 475 and 477 of the WHS regulation.

Health monitoring

Health monitoring for crystalline silica must be provided to workers at significant risk of exposure to silica dust, as required in clause 368 of the WHS regulation. See crystalline silica and watch the webinar.

Health monitoring must be provided to workers if they are at risk of exposure to asbestos when carrying out licensed asbestos removal work, other ongoing (unlicensed) asbestos removal work, or asbestos-related work as required in Clause 435 of the WHS Regulation.

Asbestos

Around 4000 Australians die every year from asbestos related diseases. In the last year, at least 344 people were reported to have been diagnosed with an asbestos related disease due to exposure in a NSW based workplace.

Asbestos-related harm is focused in line with the National Strategic Plan for Asbestos Awareness and Management (2019-2023). SafeWork NSW is a member of the NSW Asbestos Coordination Committee to help improve asbestos management and awareness across NSW.

Prevention activities - asbestos

Workplace Exposure Standard (WES)	0.1 fibres/mL 0.01 fibres/mL (clearance level after removal)
Compliance	Assessment of new and renewal asbestos licence holders. Verification activities to improve compliance of asbestos licence holders. Auditing of Registered Training Organisations who deliver asbestos removal training. Enforcement actions. Licencing reforms to enable simpler licencing processes and improved customer service.
Stakeholder Engagement	National, state and cross-jurisdictional working groups including: NSW Asbestos Co-ordination Committee Demolition and Asbestos Consultative Committee.
Awareness & Education	Annual Asbestos Awareness Campaign. Codes of Practice: How to safely remove asbestos, How to manage and control asbestos in the workplace. Video Safety Alerts including language translations. Improving knowledge and influencing behaviour around asbestos exposure risks in the workplace.

Find our more about asbestos.

Crystalline Silica

Silica is called out specifically as it is being targeted through SafeWork NSW’s five-year NSW Chemicals Strategy (2017-2022) as a top priority chemical. In the last 12 months there has been 107 silicosis cases diagnosed, 40 in 2018/19 and 9 in 2017/18.

Prevention activities - silica

Workplace Exposure Standard (WES)	0.05 mg/m3 8-hr TWA
Compliance	9,000 business interactions under the Hazardous Chemicals Roadmap Project (silica is a top priority chemical). Enhanced model WHS laws including halving WES to 0.05 mg/m3. On-the-spot fines for uncontrolled dry cutting manufactured stone. Silicosis a notifiable condition. On-the-spot fines for persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBU) failing to notify of an adverse health monitoring report
Awareness & Education	Targeted mass media industry campaigns Silica symposium, regional roadshows, events Video Safety Alerts (including language translations, task/controlspecific) $500 small business rebate Silica Infrastructure Working Group World-leading research into real-time silica dust detection devices

Silica dashboard

Find out more about what we are doing to reduce the impact and the incidence of silica in the workplace by visiting our silica dashboard.

Find out more about crystalline silica.

Research into real-time silica detection devices

Phase one of the research project being conducted by the Centre for Work Health and Safety has been completed with the final report and the feasibility study delivered in October 2020.

This world first detector has been proven successful in accurately identifying the presence of respirable crystalline silica (RCS) in laboratory testing and in site testing across a variety of industries.

This validates the fundamental hypothesis that birefringence is a good marker for the presence of RCS.

A commercial device is estimated to be available by December 2021.

Wood and other dust

Wood and other dust is featured due to the chemical component in many woods such as MDF board and treated timber; and general exposure over time to organic wood dust that is known to cause occupational asthma if working without protection. While not as hazardous as asbestos and silica it still causes harm and is why it is called out in this strategy – again, ALL dust control in ALL workplaces is critical. If you have the right controls in place for one dust, you will have effective controls in place for others.

Prevention activities - wood and other products

Workplace Exposure Standard (WES)	1 mg/m3 8hr-TWA (hard wood) 5mg/m3 8hr-TWA (soft wood) 10 mg/m3 8hr-TWA (dusts not otherwise classified*) 1.2 mg/m3 8-hr TWA (formaldehyde – MDF) Where no specific WES has been assigned and the substance is both of inherently low toxicity and free from toxic impurities
Compliance	Exposure to airborne contaminants (i.e. dust) is kept to a minimum and never below the WES. As well as the health hazard of breathing in wood dust: MDF/fibre/particle board contains formaldehyde and resins. Treated timbers contain copper chrome arsenate (CCA) and other hazardous chemicals. Some hardwoods contain harmful tannins and resins.
Awareness & Education	Wood Dust fact sheet. Code of Practice for Safe Handling of Timber Preservatives and Treated Timber. Working with and handling treated timber safely (EPA). Workplace management of respiratory conditions including asthma