Australia's Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) are replaced by Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) from 1 December 2026. The transition includes changed limit values, listing and notation changes, and different treatment for 33 non-threshold genotoxic carcinogens (NTGCs).
This page reports published Safe Work Australia transition facts. It does not assess a workplace, exposure, task, control measure or legal compliance. Until 30 November 2026 the current WES continues to apply; jurisdictional implementation and workplace obligations should be confirmed with the relevant regulator.
Safe Work Australia reports changes including decreased or increased exposure-limit values, changes to listing type, merged or split groups, renamed listings, and additions or removals. Advisory notation changes include the split of SEN into DSEN and RSEN, introduction of OTO, and removal of CARC notation from the WEL list.
Thirty-three non-threshold genotoxic carcinogens are removed from the numeric WEL list. From 1 December 2026 they no longer have exposure limits; Safe Work Australia describes elimination, substitution where possible, or minimising risk so far as reasonably practicable.
WHS ministers did not reach majority support for proposed new exposure levels for nine chemicals. Their exposure levels remain the same as their current WES levels when the WEL transition occurs.
This reference is based on Safe Work Australia's published WES/WEL transition material and the 24 June 2026 Decision RIS outcome. BecSpec is not the regulator or source of the limits.
Safe Work Australia — Changes between the WES and WEL ↗
Safe Work Australia — Decision RIS for 9 chemicals ↗