Welding Fume
INTRODUCTION
Welding fume is a known human carcinogen. Every welder is exposed, and without monitoring you do not know whether your workers are being harmed or whether your controls are working.
WHAT WE DO
The regulations require employers to ensure workers are not exposed above legal limits, welding fume at 1 mg/m³, hexavalent chromium at 0.05 mg/m³, and manganese at 0.1 mg/m³, all set under the Workplace Exposure Limits for Airborne Contaminants 2025.
If your workers weld, grind, or cut metal, these obligations apply to you. Safety Systems provides independent welding fume with NATA accredited laboratory analysis, giving you results you can act on and evidence that your duty of care was met.
The regulations require that you:
- Identify workers exposed to welding fume
- Conduct exposure air monitoring
- Implement controls starting with elimination
- Provide health monitoring to exposed workers
HOW WE DELIVER
- Personal breathing zone monitoring
- Static area sampling to map fume levels
- Laboratory analysis for total fume, hexavalent chromium, and relevant metals
- Ventilation and controls review
HOW WE DO IT
- Review your site, tasks, and materials before arriving
- Identify workers with the highest exposure risk
- Fit sampling pumps to workers at the start of shift
- Collect two samples per welder — one for total fume and metals, one for hexavalent chromium
- Speak to workers about their tasks and work patterns
- Review current site controls
- Send samples to a NATA accredited laboratory
- Calculate and interpret results against applicable limits
- Prepare a clear report with findings and recommendations
YOUR SOLUTION
- Know what your welders breathe
- Every metal, every limit checked
- Controls assessed on the day
- Plain English, actionable findings
WHY IT MATTERS
Welding fume cancer is not a future risk, it is happening now, in workplaces where monitoring has never been done and controls have never been verified. The legal limits exist because the harm is proven. Exceeding them, knowingly or not, is an offence.
Without monitoring, you cannot confirm your controls are adequate, you cannot meet your obligation to inform exposed workers, and you have no evidence that you took the risk seriously.
With Safety Systems, you get:
- Results for total welding fume, hexavalent chromium, and relevant metals
- Comparison against current legal exposure limits
- Identification of highest risk tasks, processes, and workers
- Assessment of ventilation and existing controls
- A report that stands up to WorkSafe Victoria scrutiny
- Plain English findings your workers and supervisors can understand
- Evidence of due diligence under the regulations
- Support to act on findings