Australia’s respiratory health and exposure-risk landscape is tightening.
On one front, the Thoracic Society of Australia and New Zealand (TSANZ) has replaced its previous single spirometry framework with a three-part suite covering technical standards, operator training and competency, and accreditation guidance for spirometry services.
On the other, Australia is preparing to move from Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) to Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) for airborne contaminants from 1 December 2026.
For employers, this raises an important question: is your current provider equipped to support not just spirometry testing itself, but the broader quality, competency and respiratory-risk picture around it?
What has changed in spirometry?
TSANZ has released a new spirometry suite comprising three documents:
SPC01 – technical standards for spirometry in Australian primary care
SPC02 – standards for training and maintaining competency in spirometry
SPC03 – accreditation guidance for spirometry services, including equipment, training, procedures and infection control.
That matters because the benchmark for a credible spirometry provider is now more clearly articulated across three separate dimensions.
It is no longer enough for a provider to simply offer spirometry as a service line. Employers should be asking whether that provider can demonstrate strength across:
• technical delivery,
• operator training and ongoing competency,
• and the systems, procedures and governance that support consistent service quality.
Why this matters for employers
Spirometry is often used as part of respiratory health monitoring in workplaces where workers may be exposed to dusts, fumes, vapours, mists or gases.
In that context, the value of spirometry is not just in performing the test. The value lies in having a provider that can deliver the test properly, maintain staff competency, follow robust procedures, and position that testing within a broader risk-management approach.
The new TSANZ framework gives employers a clearer basis to assess provider capability. A sensible question for any business relying on workplace spirometry is now:
Does our current provider genuinely meet all three elements of the new TSANZ framework?
The broader context: the move from WES to WEL
This development also sits within a wider national shift in how airborne contaminant risks are managed.
Safe Work Australia states that Australia will adopt the Workplace Exposure Limits (WEL) list from 1 December 2026. Until then, PCBUs must still comply with the current Workplace Exposure Standards (WES) list. Safe Work Australia also emphasises that work processes can release dusts, gases, fumes, vapours and mists that may pose a health risk, and that employers must eliminate or minimise those risks so far as is reasonably practicable.
For businesses managing respiratory hazards, that means now is the time to review:
• what airborne contaminants may be present,
• whether exposure monitoring is current and fit for purpose,
• whether control measures remain appropriate,
• and whether health monitoring arrangements still match the risk profile of the work.
Why provider breadth matters more now
As exposure expectations tighten, many businesses will benefit from working with a provider that can support more than one part of the picture.
In practical terms, that may include:
• air quality assessment to help identify and assess airborne contaminant risks,
• spirometry-based health monitoring where respiratory surveillance is warranted,
• and mask fit testing where respirators form part of the control strategy.
These elements are often interconnected. Air monitoring helps clarify exposure risk. Respiratory health monitoring helps support surveillance where appropriate. Fit testing helps verify whether respiratory protective equipment is functioning as intended in practice.
That joined-up approach becomes more valuable where workplaces are managing hazards such as silica, welding fumes, diesel particulate, flour or grain dust, wood dust, isocyanates, solvents, formaldehyde or other respiratory irritants and sensitizers. Safe Work Australia’s WEL transition materials explicitly deal with airborne contaminants including dusts, fumes, gases, vapours and mists, and outline changes that will take effect from 1 December 2026.
What employers should be asking now
If your workplace relies on spirometry as part of respiratory health monitoring, now is a reasonable time to ask:
• Does our provider align with the new TSANZ spirometry framework across technical standards, competency and service quality?
• Do they understand how spirometry, occupational hygiene and fit testing work together?
• Are our current monitoring and surveillance arrangements still fit for purpose as Australia approaches the WEL transition?
A practical, defensible approach
For many employers, the most reliable path is to work with a provider that can help connect the dots between exposure risk, monitoring, surveillance and respiratory protection.
That does not mean every workplace needs the same program. It does mean that businesses should be cautious about fragmented arrangements where air monitoring, health monitoring and respirator fit testing are treated as unrelated activities.
A more defensible approach is one in which:
• exposure risks are assessed properly,
• monitoring is matched to those risks,
• spirometry is delivered to a high standard,
• and respiratory protection is supported by fit testing where needed.
How Mobile Screening can help
Mobile Screening supports workplaces with practical respiratory-risk services that can include:
• occupational hygiene and air quality assessment,
• workplace spirometry,
• and quantitative mask fit testing.
As standards evolve and exposure obligations sharpen, businesses need more than a provider that can simply “do a test.” They need a provider that understands the broader context and can help deliver a more integrated and reliable approach.
If your business is reviewing its respiratory surveillance arrangements, preparing for the move to WEL, or reassessing whether your current spirometry provider meets the new TSANZ framework, now is a good time to start that conversation.
