NSW Dust Strategy

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

Injuries and death from breathing in asbestos, silica, wood and other dusts are preventable.

Identify the hazard, handle it safely, dispose of it responsibly:

  • engage a licensed asbestos professional for asbestos removal work
  • use simple controls such as water and dust capture tools when working with silica
  • wear the right personal protective equipment, including a correctly fitted face mask.

Learn more about the national occupational lung disease campaign - Clean Air. Clean Lungs.

The NSW Dust Strategy provides a coordinated approach for SafeWork NSW and industry to:

  • 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 through compliance, regulation, awareness and education
  • educate workers about dust exposure with consistent communication of best-practice safety controls for different dust types and work activities.
 
How to safely control dust
Safety controlAsbestosSilica 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
Vacuum 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 (testing the amount of dust in the air) must be conducted in workplaces where silica, asbestos or wood dust is being generated.

Learn more about airborne contaminants.

Refer to the Work Health and Safety Regulation (WHS Regulation):

Health monitoring

Health monitoring (lung screening) must be provided to workers at significant risk of exposure to silica dust (see clause 368 of the WHS Regulation) or asbestos (clause 435 of the WHS Regulation).

See crystalline silica and watch the webinar.

NSW Dust Disease Register

Asbestosis, mesothelioma and silicosis cases in NSW are now recorded on the NSW Dust Disease Register and reported in the NSW Dust Disease Register Annual Report.

A Case Finding Study on silica exposure in the manufactured (engineered) stone industry is also available.

NSW silica dashboard

See the latest information on workplace exposure to silica dust in NSW, including workplace compliance program activity and silicosis case data.

Tools and resources

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