Occupational Exposure Limits in Australia

Every country has its own legal system and within that system its own occupational safety laws. For people not familiar with these laws, finding the relevant occupational exposure limits (OELs) can be time consuming.  This blog recently provided an article with links for readers to find occupational exposure limits in Canada, and compared these to the US OSHA Limits. This article provides similar information for Australia.

Unlike the United States which has a strong federal government and relatively weak states, in Australia the opposite is true. The provinces are considered co-sovereign states with the federal government; and the territories though under the egis of the federal government, also promulgate their own laws. However, all the six states and several territories collaborated through an organization called Safe Work Australia to develop a common set of OELs and a model occupational statute and associated regulations that the states and territories can adopt.


Occupational Exposure Limits
Safe Work has created an on-line database for occupational exposure limits, which allows chemicals to be searched by name or CAS number. The complete list of OELs is also available for download as a pdf. The OEL for some representative compounds are shown below and for the most part they are fairly similar to those used in the US.

                                   Australia              US-OSHA              ACGIH TLV
Ethylene Oxide             1 ppm (8 hr TWA)            1 ppm (8 hr TWA)           1 ppm (8 hr TWA)
Glutaraldehyde            0.1 ppm peak                       n/a                                            0.05 ppm ceiling
Hydrogen peroxide     1 ppm (8 hr TWA)            1 ppm (8 hr TWA)           1 ppm (8 hr TWA)
Ozone                                     0.1 ppm                                  0.1 ppm (8 hr TWA)        0.05 - 0.2 ppm
                                                                                                                                            
Notes: 
1) TWA = time weighted average, peak = ceiling = maximum permissible exposure at any time.
2) Regulations are always subject to change and to the readers should verify that the above information is correct before relying on this information.


Work Safe has also developed a guide on the application of workplace exposure standards for airborne contaminants (exposure standards) in the workplace. 

Occupational Safety Statutes and Regulations
The federal government and all of the states and territories, except for Victoria, have adopted the model statute and regulations. As with most common law countries, the legislature passes a broad act or statute that empowers a government agency to then develop more specific regulations. The statutes and regulations are listed below as a reference but will not discussed further in this article.

Work Health and Safety Act 2011

Model Work Health and Safety Regulations 2011

While Victoria's statute is different from the other states, its occupational laws are generally compatible.

The Victoria Occupational Safety and Health Act of 2004

The Victoria - Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2007

Occupational Exposure Limits in Canada Compared to the US.

The primary goal of this blog article is to allow readers to easily find exposure data in the US and Canada, by following the links in the text. Hydrogen peroxide will be used as an exemplary chemical to compare exposure limits, but the exposure limits for other chemicals are usually in the same sources, though some jurisdictions list carcinogens separately.

The Canadian provinces each set their own occupational exposure limits, though the majority of them follow the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH) threshold limit values (TLVs). The occupational exposure limits for each Canadian province (P) and Territory (T) is set out below:

• Federal Government: follows ACGIH
• Alberta (P): Based on 2006 ACGIH, exposure values tabulated.
• British Columbia (P): largely follows ACGIH, but issues its own table of exposure values. H2O2 = 1 ppm 8 Hr TWA..
• Manitoba (P): follows ACGIH
• New Brunswick (P): follows 1997 ACGIH
• Newfoundland and Labrador (P): follows ACGIH
• Northwest Territories (T): follows ACGIH, legislation pending
• Nova Scotia (P): follows 1976 ACGIH
• Nunavut (T)follows ACGIH, legislation pending
• Ontario (P): Published list or else ACGIH, H2O2 is under ACGIH
• Prince Edward Island (P): follows ACGIH
• Quebec (P): 1 ppm 8 hr TWA
• Saskatchewan (P): 1 ppm 8 Hr TWA, 2 ppm 15 min TWA (STEL)
• Yukon (T): 1 ppm 8 hr TWA, 2 ppm 15 min TWA (STEL)

Note: Regulations are always subject to change and to the readers should verify that the above information is correct before relying on this information. 

The current ACGIH TLV for hydrogen peroxide is 1 ppm calculated as an 8 hour TWA.  The ACGIH TLVs are time weighted exposures (TWA) that are reviewed periodically based on the available scientific data.

For the US, the OSHA PEL for hydrogen peroxide is 1 ppm (8 hr TWA) with no short term exposure limit. Hawaii and Washington have the same 8 hr PEL, but also have a STEL of 3 ppm (15 min. TWA). 


There are significant jurisdictional differences between the US and Canada. In the United States, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) establishes safety standards for the entire country including permissible exposure limits (PELs) for workplace exposure to chemicals. Most state agencies with responsibility for workplace safety follow the federal limits, though a few, such as California, Washington and Hawaii set their own PELs but these state PELs are either the same or more restrictive than the OSHA PELs because of the Supremacy clause in Article VI of the US constitution.

Unlike the United States which has a strong federal government and relatively weak states, in Canada the opposite is true. In Canada there are ten provinces and three territories. The provinces are considered co-sovereign states with the federal government; and the territories though under the egis of the federal government, also promulgate their own laws. Thus people working with chemicals in Canada need to look at the requirements of each province and territory separately.