Crystalline silica exposure has moved firmly onto the national safety agenda, and updated guidance is changing how “high risk” work is defined. If your site involves cutting, grinding, drilling or otherwise disturbing materials that contain crystalline silica, this is worth understanding properly, not skimming.
What’s actually changed
The updated rules introduce a clearer definition of “high risk crystalline silica work.” Just as importantly, they set a default position for anything in between: if there’s uncertainty about whether a task falls into that high risk category, it must be treated as high risk until proven otherwise. That reverses the burden of proof employers have often relied on. Silence or ambiguity is no longer a safe default.
For site supervisors and safety managers, this means the assessment has to happen upfront, not after an incident or audit raises the question.
A new toolbox from Safe Work Australia
Safe Work Australia has released ClearLungs, a toolbox resource built specifically to help identify and manage crystalline silica risk. It’s a practical starting point for businesses working out where they sit under the updated definitions, and worth building into existing toolbox talks and site inductions rather than treating as a one-off read.
What this means day to day
For most workplaces, the practical shift is about documentation and process as much as physical controls. Where a task’s risk classification is genuinely unclear, treating it as high risk by default means:
- Applying high risk control measures (dust suppression, RPE, air monitoring) until a proper assessment says otherwise
- Reviewing existing risk assessments against the updated definition, not assuming old paperwork still holds
- Making sure supervisors and workers understand the shift in default position, not just the technical definition
Training options
Link Resources delivers Silica Awareness training across multiple formats, including face to face, on-site at your workplace, online, and via Zoom, so it can fit around how your team actually operates rather than the other way around.
If silica is part of your work and you’re not confident where your current tasks sit under the updated definition, that’s exactly the gap this training is built to close. Contact us for more information.
