The exposure limits starting 1 December were corrected on 5 November, and the platinum row still shows the old figure

The short answer

• The date has not moved. Safe Work Australia’s page for the list still says: Until 1 December 2026, PCBUs must still comply with the exposure standards list, and from that date the new limits apply. Some states have said they will delay phosphine, as we reported, and benzene’s cut waits until 1 June 2027.
• The list changed on 5 November. The new edition, marked November 2026, lists seven amendments under that date. Three change a number.
• Platinum metal does not agree with itself. The amendment says the 8-hour limit went from 1 to 0.1 mg/m3. The table row still reads 1.
• The codes followed on 12 November. Safe Work Australia updated 15 model codes to the new wording. That notice does not mention the 5 November corrections.

Exhibit A · from the source

What the 5 November amendments changed

From Appendix C and Appendix A of the November 2026 exposure limits list, and the November 2025 edition of the exposure standards list that applies until 30 November.

The other four amendments change no number. The list now points to Safe Work Australia’s two 2026 air monitoring guides instead of the old interpretation guidance, corrects four CAS numbers, renames synthetic mineral fibres as man-made vitreous fibres, and adds two notes on measuring chemicals that are present as both particles and vapour. One of those notes covers ethylene glycol, for which the particle and vapour limits should be applied separately, they are not intended to be additive.

Amitrole is now back at the figure in the current standard. By the amendment’s own account, the earlier edition of the new list carried a limit ten times higher than the one Safe Work Australia now says is correct.

Trimellitic anhydride shows why a correction was needed. The earlier peak of 0.00002 ppm sat below the 8-hour average of 0.00006 ppm. A peak is a ceiling on any moment of exposure, so a peak below the 8-hour figure would make the 8-hour figure meaningless. The corrected peak sits above it. Either way, the new 8-hour limit is about 83 times lower than today’s 0.005 ppm standard, and that is the change that matters for anyone who uses it.

The platinum row

Exhibit B · from the source

We checked the Word version of the list as well as the PDF. Both show 1 mg/m3 for platinum metal, and both carry the amendment line saying it is now 0.1. Safe Work Australia’s page for the list says it was last updated on 5 November and invites exactly this kind of report: From time to time, Safe Work Australia will address typographical and transcription errors in the WEL list.

We cannot tell from the document which figure Safe Work Australia intends, and we have not guessed. What is certain is that the two figures are ten times apart and the list takes effect on 1 December.

What the 15 updated codes add

The 12 November notice says the codes were updated to reflect the change to WEL terminology and include links to new air monitoring guidance. The list covers abrasive blasting, confined spaces, demolition, excavation, healthcare and social assistance, both asbestos codes, how to manage WHS risks, labelling, noise, hazardous chemicals, silica, safety data sheets, spray painting and powder coating, and welding.

Most of the change is wording, but the hazardous chemicals code, the main one for anyone with airborne contaminants, now says two things its June 2023 edition did not:

• Respirators can count, within limits. Compliance with Regulation 49 requires determination of a person’s exposure, which can take into account the protection provided by RPE, provided certain conditions are met. The conditions follow straight after: RPE comes only once every reasonably practicable higher-order control is in place, and it must be worn correctly.
• Some chemicals have no limit at all. For the non-threshold genotoxic carcinogens, which have no number on the new list, the code says PCBUs have a duty to eliminate risks from NTGCs so far as is reasonably practicable. We covered which chemicals those are in August.

It also restates that a limit is not a target or safe level. Model codes are templates. They bind only once a state or territory approves them, and in NSW an approved code is now the minimum standard, as we reported.

What to do before 1 December

Use the November 2026 edition. If you downloaded the list or built a register from it before 5 November, your amitrole figure is wrong. Check any safety data sheet or exposure register that took its numbers from the earlier edition.

If you work with trimellitic anhydride: the 8-hour limit falls about 83-fold on 1 December and a peak limit applies for the first time. That is a monitoring question for an occupational hygienist, not a paperwork change.

If you work with platinum metal dust or fume: you are already required to keep exposure as low as reasonably practicable, not just under the number. Until Safe Work Australia says which figure it means, planning to 0.1 mg/m3 is the safer reading, and your state regulator can tell you what it will enforce.

Our read

This section is opinion, built on the documents cited above.

Correcting a list is good practice, and Safe Work Australia records every change in an appendix, which is more than many publishers do. But a list that becomes the legal limit on 1 December should not be corrected quietly with 26 days to go, and it should not contradict itself on a tenfold difference. The amendments carried no news item, and the code notice a week later did not mention them, so the people most likely to have downloaded the earlier edition, the ones preparing early, are the least likely to know it changed.

The platinum row is probably a slip in one place or the other. It is still the kind of slip a regulator, an employer and a hygienist could each read differently in a prosecution or a dispute, and it is quick to fix. We will ask Safe Work Australia which platinum figure it intends and report the answer.