Safe Work Australia’s July 2026 Guide for PCBUs: Air monitoring and the workplace exposure limits for airborne contaminants sets out when air monitoring is needed. From 1 December 2026, worker exposure to airborne contaminants must not exceed the exposure limits published by Safe Work Australia.
It’s written for employers and the people who run WHS on site. It walks through when monitoring is needed, who should do it and what to do with the results. Here’s the guide boiled down to five steps.
Step 1: Assess the risk
Not all work involving airborne contaminants will require air monitoring, the guide says. The starting point is a risk assessment.
The assessment tells you whether monitoring is needed at all, and if it is, what to measure and where.
It’s also worth keeping the purpose of exposure limits in mind. The guide says they are not a target or safe level. You have a duty to keep exposure as low as reasonably practicable, and that can sit well under the limit.
Step 2: Fix the controls before you spend on sampling
If your risk assessment says the limit is likely to be exceeded, don’t start by sampling. Put controls in first.
The guide says air monitoring is best done after control measures have been put in place. It also says that in all cases, best practice is to implement controls prior to undertaking air monitoring.
It also stops you paying for a report that tells you what the site already knew, while the exposure carries on.
Step 3: Monitor when required
Regulation 50(1) of the model WHS Regulations requires air monitoring if:
- you’re not certain on reasonable grounds whether the exposure standard (the exposure limit from 1 December) is exceeded, or
- monitoring is necessary to determine whether there is a risk to health.
The phrase “on reasonable grounds” matters. It needs evidence you could point to, beyond a feeling that things are fine.
Step 4: Use a competent person
If you need to do air monitoring, the guide says you should engage a competent person, such as an occupational hygienist, to design and undertake the monitoring.
It also suggests you ask to see evidence of their qualifications and experience. That’s a fair question for any consultant, and a good one will expect it.
Design matters. The monitoring has to sample the right people, during the right tasks, for the right length of time, and be analysed for the right thing. Some exposure limits are measured as a specific fraction. Diesel particulate matter, for example, has a limit of 0.01 mg/m³ as an 8-hour time-weighted average, measured as respirable elemental carbon.
Step 5: Act on the results
It’s up to you, as the PCBU, to implement the recommendations and choose the most appropriate controls for your workplace. If a report shows your controls aren’t keeping exposure as low as reasonably practicable, you should revise them.
The guide gives more than half the limit (often called the action level) as an example of when to review your controls. It also notes that even if monitoring shows exposure below the limit, some workers may still be at risk and additional controls may need to be considered. You must consult your workers about any new controls you put in.
Then check whether health monitoring is needed.
Where people get step 5 wrong
Health monitoring is not a control. The guide says it cannot be used in place of implementing control measures for airborne contaminants.
Health monitoring can tell you whether a worker’s health is being affected. It doesn’t reduce what they’re breathing. If results point to a problem, go back to the controls.
Keep the records
Under regulation 50, you must ensure the records and results of air monitoring are kept for 30 years and are readily accessible to people at the workplace who may be exposed. The guide adds that workers who have worn personal sampling devices should receive a written copy of their individual results.
A quick checklist
Before your next exposure review, ask:
- Do we have a current risk assessment for each airborne contaminant on site?
- Where the limit is likely to be exceeded, have we put controls in before planning monitoring?
- Can we say we’re certain, on reasonable grounds, that exposure is under the limit? If not, is monitoring booked?
- Is the person designing our monitoring competent, and have we seen evidence of that?
- After the last report, what did we change?
- Are monitoring records kept and accessible, and have workers received their results?
Next steps
1 December 2026 is the date the new limits apply. If you’re unsure whether your site needs monitoring, or whether your current controls will hold up, it’s worth working through these five steps now.
Anitech’s occupational hygienists can help with risk assessments, monitoring design and reviewing results against the new limits. Contact Anitech to get started.
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