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Annex III: Revised Workplace Exposure Standard
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Building and construction consultations
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Work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
- Minister's foreword
- Executive summary
- Introduction
- Current risk requirements
- Problem definition
- Options for working with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
- Closing remarks
- Summary of all consultation questions
- Glossary
- Annex I: Silicosis and engineered stone background
- Annex II: Overview of the health and safety regulatory regime
- Annex III: Revised Workplace Exposure Standard
- Annex IV: Further information on the status quo
- Annex V: Australia’s amendments to its regulatory settings in response to the risks posed by RCS
- Making it easier to build granny flats (2024)
- Building Code fire safety review discussion document
- Review of the building consent system (snapshot)
- Proposed amendments to the BuiltReady Scheme Rules public consultation
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Building consent system review: Options paper summary of submissions
- Introduction
- Key themes from submissions
- Promoting competition in the building regulatory system
- Removing impediments to product substitution and variation
- Strengthening roles and responsibilities
- New assurance pathways
- More efficient and streamlined delivery of building consent services
- Better performance monitoring and system stewardship
- Better responding to the needs and aspirations of Māori
- Addressing the interface between the building and resource consent system
- Submitter details
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Improving efficiency in the inspection process: Discussion document
- Use of information
- Minister's foreword
- Introduction
- Increasing the uptake of remote inspections
- Section one: Options to increase the uptake of remote inspections and improve efficiency of inspection processes
- Section two: Increasing inspection capacity through the use of Accredited Organisations (Building)
- Appendix one: Full list of consultation questions
- Appendix two: Summary of options for feedback
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Consultation document: Insulation requirements in housing and other buildings
- 1. Introduction
- 2. Insulation in housing and small buildings
- 3. Insulation in large buildings
- Appendix A: Proposed changes to Acceptable Solution H1/AS1 Energy Efficiency for all housing, and bu
- Appendix B: Proposed changes to Verification Method H1/VM1 Energy Efficiency for all housing, and buildings up to 300m squared
- Appendix C: Proposed changes to Acceptable Solution H1/AS2 Energy Efficiency for buildings greater than 300m squared
- Appendix D: Proposed changes to Verification Method H1/VM2 Energy Efficiency for buildings greater than 300m squared
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Work with engineered stone and materials containing crystalline silica
Annex III: Revised Workplace Exposure Standard
As part of eliminating risks or minimising risks to workers from RCS so far as is reasonably practicable, PBCUs can consider and use Workplace Exposure Standards (WES).
On this page
A WES refers to the airborne concentration of a substance, at which it is found that nearly all workers can be repeatedly exposed to, day after day, without coming to harm. The values are normally calculated on work schedules of five shifts of eight hours duration over a 40-hour week. A WES thus aims to avoid adverse health effects for most workers. These WESs are set by WorkSafe based on toxicological effects of the substance.[1]
A WES is an advisory standard. It is not a mandatory occupational exposure level that must not be exceeded, unless it is prescribed as a “prescribed exposure standard” (PES)[2]in a safe work instrument made under the Health and Safety at Work (General Risk and Workplace Management) Regulations 2016 or by specific regulations. This contrasts with, for example, Australia, where all WESs are mandatory, and with the United States requirements referred to below.
The WorkSafe WES for RCS has been set at 0.025 mg/m3.[3] This is consistent with what has happened in most jurisdictions overseas, but not all. Some, such as the United Sates, have set a permissible exposure limit (PEL) at 0.05 mg/m3. A PEL set by the federal agency Occupational Safety and Health Administration is mandatory and had to be established as both measurable and achievable for businesses before it could be prescribed by regulation in 2016.
Footnotes
[1] See: https://www.worksafe.govt.nz/laws-and-regulations/operational-policy-framework/operational-policies/how-we-set-workplace-exposure-standards-and-biological-exposure-indices/.
[2] At present only one substance in New Zealand has a PES (a fumigation chemical).
[3] The WES for RCS was changed from 0.1 mg/m3 to 0.05 mg/m3 in November 2019. After consultation, WorkSafe changed it from 0.05 mg/m3 to 0.025 mg/m3 in November 2023.