Conducting a risk assessment for airborne contaminants

Work processes can release dusts, gases, fumes, vapours, fibres or mists. These airborne contaminants may be invisible but can cause serious harm and pose health and safety risks. To manage risks from airborne contaminants, you should follow the risk management process. 

1. Identify hazards
2. Assess risks
3. Control risks
4. Review control measures

When working through the risk management process, you must also consult with your workers. By drawing on the knowledge and experience of your workers, you can make more informed decisions about how to carry out the work safely.

Step 1: Identify hazards

To protect workers from being harmed by hazardous chemicals, you must first identify if there are any hazards. Airborne contaminants can be a significant hazard in your workplace and can be identified by:

• looking at your workplace, products and processes
• talking and consulting with your workers
• reading any labels and safety data sheets
• engaging a professional such as an occupational hygienist.

Step 2: Assess risks

Once you have identified an airborne contaminant, you need to undertake a risk assessment to consider what could happen if your workers are exposed to the hazardous substance and the likelihood of it happening. A risk assessment will help you: 

• identify which workers are at risk of exposure
• determine what sources and processes are causing the risk
• identify if and what kind of control measures should be implemented, and
• check the effectiveness of existing control measures. 

Step 3: Control risks

If you or your workers could be exposed to release fumes, dusts, gases, mists, fibres or vapours, make sure you’ve implemented the right control measures.

You should always aim to eliminate risks, as this is the best way to manage risks. Where this is not possible, you must minimise risks so far as is reasonably practicable. Use the hierarchy of control measures to control risks and reduce exposure to hazards. The ways of controlling risk are ranked from the highest level of protection and reliability to the lowest.  Administrative controls and personal protective equipment (PPE) are the least effective. They do not control the hazard at the source and rely on human behaviour and supervision. 

Step 4: Review control measures

Implementing measures for controlling airborne contaminants isn't a matter of simply "set and forget". You must regularly monitor and review your control measures to make sure they are still effective and are working as intended. If you’ve implemented measures to control fumes, dusts, gases, mists, fibres or vapours, you must review them:

• when the control measure is not effective in controlling the risk
• before a change at your workplace that is likely to give rise to a new or different health and safety risk that the control measure may not effectively control
• if a new hazard or risk is identified
• if the results of consultation indicate that a review is necessary, or
• if a health and safety representative requests a review.

After you review your control measures, if you have identified a new or changed hazard or risk that needs to be addressed, you should:

• go back through the risk assessment steps (identify and assess hazards, eliminate and control risks and monitor and review controls)
• consult with your workers, and
• implement new control measures to address the new or changed hazard or risk that you’ve identified.

You must also conduct air monitoring if you are not certain if the concentration of a substance exceeds the workplace exposure limits, or if it’s necessary to find out if there is a risk to health. Air monitoring should be conducted by a competent person, such as an occupational hygienist and is done after you have applied control measures. Read Safe Work Australia's fact sheet on Engaging an occupational hygienist.