It has been over a decade since a legal precedent was set in Australia for workers’ compensation based on the link between welding fume and cancer.
In the intervening years, great strides have been made to raise awareness and mitigate the risks surrounding welding fume exposure, culminating in a change in legislation reducing the Workplace Exposure Standard (WES) for welding fume from 5mg/m3 to 1mg/m3 in January 2024.
To examine the current state of the welding industry in the wake of these changes, a survey of over 1350 welders across Australia was conducted in 2024.
Notably, the results of this survey revealed that only 38 per cent of welders said they knew the WES for welding fume had changed, demonstrating the need for greater awareness of how this new limit impacts welding businesses and their employees.
When it comes to welding, the elimination or substitution of hazardous materials is not always possible: if there is welding to be done, welding fume will be present.
As such, “lower” levels of control such as product and administrative controls are essential and must be introduced.
The 2024 survey sought to determine what methods of welding fume product controls were being employed to reduce exposure to as low as possible, while ensuring levels were below the new limit as required by work health and safety legislation.
On the one hand, 65 per cent of welders surveyed said they used a form of respiratory PPE: of that group, 37 per cent cited a Welding Helmet with integrated Powered Air Purifying Respirator (PAPR), which remains the most popular product control to protect welders.
According to the results of an independent scientific study, a PAPR can reduce welding fume exposure to at least 1/2600th of the outside concentration, equivalent to a minimum 99.96 per cent reduction in exposure. This demonstrates a level of performance at least 52 times better than the RMPF of 50 specified in the Australian and New Zealand standard for respiratory protection (AS/NZS1715:2009).
These findings establish PAPR as by far the most effective control measure for protecting the welder from exposure to welding fume, to be considered a priority in situations where the welder is the only person requiring protection from welding fumes.
However, it is an employer’s legal responsibility to reduce welding fume exposure to as low as reasonably practicable for all persons, not just the welder.
On-Gun Fume Extraction LEV and Hooded Capture Local Exhaust Ventilation (LEV) are two common methods used to reduce welding fume exposure to all workers by capturing welding fume at the source and removing it from the environment.
Per the scientific study, on-gun fume extraction was found to remove 33 per cent more welding fume from the workplace environment compared to LEV hooded capture.
On-gun extraction also has the added benefit of following the welder as they move, unlike fixed LEV hooded capture that requires the welder to be perfectly positioned relative to the capture hood and for the welder and welding arc location to remain relatively stationary. This is especially noteworthy given that the 2024 survey revealed that 83 per cent of welders require mobility when they weld.
As a result, where capturing welding fume at the source to protect both the welder and other workers is a priority, on-gun fume extraction (if suitable for the application*) should be adopted and complement the use of a PAPR Welding Helmet.
Finally, it’s worth noting that welding fume is not the only respiratory hazard welding business must take into account. In this vein, there has been a recent focus on protecting workers from exposure to ozone (O3), an extremely toxic gas (undetectable to the human eye) generated when UV radiation from a welding arc reacts with oxygen in the air.
Fortunately, the foremost welding fume product controls (e.g. PAPR) are ideally placed to simultaneously help employers fulfil their legal responsibilities as it relates to ozone and welding fume exposure.
To that end, a study on protecting welders from ozone exposure clarified that a Welding Helmet with PAPR was able to effectively reduce exposure to ozone by 100 per cent. The risk to surrounding workers, while not as severe as with welding fume, could also be addressed via a combination of PAPR and fume extraction.
For workplaces wanting to reduce their workers’ exposure to both welding fume and ozone to as low as reasonably practicable in the workplace, contact one of AWS’ welding fume and ozone specialists.
*Please note that On-Gun Fume Extraction is not suitable for all welding applications (e.g. MMA stick welding) and certain variables can impact effectiveness (e.g. design of the on-gun extraction system and welding gun, weld position, and environmental factors).