Doctors want better protection for workers exposed to workplace chemicals labelled 'silent killers'

Leading lung doctors want workers to receive better protection from nine workplace chemicals they say are "silent killers", and which the government's own regulator has twice recommended be subject to tougher exposure limits.

The government is expected to respond to the Safe Work report, which says the current levels fail to sufficiently protect workers, by the end of the month.

Workers in demolition, construction and tunnelling, as well as nurses and medical technicians who collect tissue, are those most vulnerable to exposure.

The chemicals include benzene, formaldehyde, and respirable crystalline silica, chlorine, copper, hydrogen cyanide, hydrogen sulphide, nitrogen dioxide and titanium dioxide.

Under the proposed changes, there would be a five-fold reduction in the exposure limit for benzene, chlorine exposure would be reduced ten-fold, and silica exposure would be halved.

The leading body for chest and lung specialists, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand, said the current exposure limits presented an unacceptable risk to workers, who could develop cancer, lung disease or nerve damage.

"They're going about their work and then getting sick or dying from exposure," society secretary and professor at the University of Adelaide, Hubertus Jersmann, said.

"Harm comes from the period of exposure and the intensity of exposure. Exposure should ideally be zero.

In 2022, all nine chemicals were carved out of a broader upgrade of exposure limits due in part to concerns from industry groups that they could not comply.

A second assessment from the workplace regulator, which reviewed the recommendation, backed up the initial finding that current exposure limits on all nine chemicals were unsafe.

The Thoracic Society is among six organisations, including the Cancer Council and Lung Foundation, to release a joint statement calling for better protection.

"Safe Work Australia has undertaken a lengthy, rigorous and comprehensive review," the statement said.

"Many of these chemicals are highly toxic and are known causes of cancer. These limits have been delayed now for more than five years.

"It is time to immediately lower these limits and save lives."

In a statement, a spokesperson for Workplace Relations Minister Amanda Rishworth said the government was giving "careful consideration" to the recommendations.

"The government is committed to the health and safety of all Australian workers, including those working with hazardous chemicals," the statement read.

Industry warns proposed limits impossible to comply with

Safe Work has recommended that exposure limits for respirable crystalline silica be halved to 0.025 milligrams per cubic metre.

Silica-related health risks have drawn the focus of governments in recent years after devastating stories emerged of workers in the engineered stone industry becoming sick.

David Rynne from Cement Concrete and Aggregates Australia said the industry had for decades acknowledged the risks associated with silica exposure and "been on a journey to get to best practice".

Workers who may be exposed on their job sites undergo health screenings both before and during their employment.

But Mr Rynne said it would be impossible for the industry to comply with the proposed new limits because the technology to accurately measure a level of exposure that low simply did not exist.

"If we can't measure it accurately, how do we know what compliance looks like, and how would an enforcement agency enforce that very low level?" he said.

Safe Work's own report estimated the total compliance cost for affected businesses, excluding the mining industry, would be $2.5 billion over a 10-year period.

Several western countries have already changed their standards to reduce the exposure limit for respirable crystalline silica to 0.025 milligrams per cubic metre, including New Zealand and Canada.

But Mr Rynne said without the technology to hold industries in those countries accountable, it was little more than an aspirational figure.

Innes Willox, representing the Australian Industry Group, said the compliance issues with all nine chemicals were "extremely technical and complex."

"It will be important that industry's concerns are carefully grappled with as ministers make a decision on this important matter," he said.

"Businesses have obligations to do all that is reasonably practicable to eliminate or minimise risks to health and safety in the workplace, including exposure to hazardous chemicals, and this will continue to be the case."

Professor Jersmann acknowledged it was critical for affected industries to receive support from governments to reach compliance.

"You don't want to make a small business bankrupt by announcing new levels overnight," he said.

"You need to make these changes in a just way so that people can achieve them, for the sake of the workers."

States and territories must reach consensus

The proposed changes are being considered by each of the state and territories' work health and safety ministers.

The federal government must reach a consensus with the states and territories to update the limits on all nine chemicals.

Shadow Employment Minister Jane Hume said the issue should be "carefully considered" and that she would "wait for the government response".

The Australian Council of Trade Unions said workers had waited long enough for tougher regulatory action.

"Our national health and safety experts have determined that current exposure limits are not safe; yet governments at all levels have not taken the advice of their own national safety experts," assistant secretary Liam O'Brien said.

"Lowering exposure limits will save lives, and that should be a good enough reason to act now. If Safe Work Australia is telling us the current exposure settings are too high to keep workers safe, then any further delays would be unforgivable."