OH Consultant
New WEL effective 1 December 2026

Your worker’s full flour-dust day, before the limit drops.

FlourSafe is the Australian-specific exposure assessment tool for cafés and small bakeries — calibrated to the new 0.5 mg/m³ WEL and aligned with AIHA Bayesian Decision Analysis. Other sectors coming through 2027.

Run the assessment free. Pay only if you want the documented report.

Multi-task worker-day TWA
AIHA Cat 1–4 output
No instruments needed
Australian Flour Dust Limit
Previously, 10
mg/m³ inhalable
Current WES (PNOS)
↓ 20-fold reduction
0.5
mg/m³ inhalable
From 1 Dec 2026
Sensitiser-based limit. Most uncontrolled flour-handling operations will not comply with the new WEL without engineering intervention.
0.5 mg/m³
New WEL from 1 Dec 2026
13 operations
Modelled for café & small-bakery
100,000
Monte Carlo iterations per task
Free
No account needed for the assessment
From walkthrough to assessment

A defensible exposure estimate before any sampling pump runs.

FlourSafe uses a structured visible-dust observation methodology to convert site-walkthrough evidence into quantitative exposure predictions. No measurement equipment required for the Stage 1 assessment.

01

Set the kitchen context

Facility type (café / artisan bakery / retail bake-off), shift length, throughput band. Three questions, under a minute.

02

Pick your operations from the tile menu

Select every flour-handling task your worker does in a shift — bag breaking, bench weighing, mixing, croissant lamination, sieving. Tiles calibrated to café and small-bakery reality.

03

Answer the per-task questions

Eight to fourteen visible-dust observation questions per task: cloud visibility, bag condition, surface accumulation, LEV state, batch size. Operationally meaningful, not technically esoteric.

04

Get your worker-day TWA and contribution chart

FlourSafe combines all tasks into the 8-hour TWA — the actual compliance metric. A contribution chart shows which operations drive the risk so you know where to act first.

The 2026 regulatory shift

A 20-fold reduction informed by baker’s asthma data.

The new Australian flour dust WEL replaces the legacy generic-particulate limit with a sensitiser-specific limit of 0.5 mg/m³ inhalable. Long-tenure exposure to flour dust is one of the most-documented occupational asthma risks; the new limit is calibrated to the science.

01
5–15%

Sensitisation rate in long-tenure bakery workers

HSE bakery industry data documents flour-dust sensitisation in workers exposed across multi-year employment. Baker's asthma is among the highest-incidence occupational asthma conditions globally.

02
Bursty

Flour-dust exposure is task-specific, not steady

A café kitchen worker's exposure is dominated by 2–3 high-dust tasks: bag breaking, dry sieving, bulk ingredient loading. The 8-hour TWA looks low — until you add them all up. FlourSafe shows which tasks drive the combined result.

03
2 yrs

Of due-diligence runway, narrowing.

Operators who establish baseline exposure profiles, design controls, and verify performance before the changeover demonstrate due diligence. Operators who wait until enforcement begins do not.

The science underneath

Built on the established frameworks of occupational hygiene.

FlourSafe is not a heuristic or a checklist. The exposure engine implements the canonical mathematical models that underpin occupational hygiene practice — adapted for Australian flour and grain operations and calibrated against four decades of peer-reviewed sector exposure research.

01 / Mathematical model

Two-zone near-field exposure modelling

The breathing-zone concentration is computed using the two-zone (near-field / far-field) mass balance — the foundation model for indoor airborne contaminant prediction in occupational hygiene practice. Implemented as a 100,000-iteration two-dimensional Monte Carlo simulation with parameter uncertainty propagated through to the result distribution.

02 / Decision analysis

AIHA Bayesian Decision Analysis

The exposure distribution is categorised against the applicable WEL using the AIHA Bayesian framework — the recognised approach for exposure decision-making with inherent variability. Output is an AIHA exposure category 1 through 4 with explicit posterior probability assignment, ready for the AIHA-aligned management plan.

03 / Multi-task combination

Worker-day TWA from individual task contributions

Where a worker performs multiple flour-handling tasks in a shift, FlourSafe computes the time-weighted average exposure across all tasks — the actual compliance metric. Each task's contribution is shown individually so you know which operations drive the risk and where engineering controls will have the greatest effect.

04 / Particle physics

Dust generation and deposition

Dust generation rates, particle settling velocity, deposition behaviour, and bimodal flour dust distributions are modelled using published particle physics — including material-specific deposition velocity tables for fine, coarse, and pre-treated flour. Visible-dust observations map to physically meaningful emission rate priors.

“FlourSafe applies the same mathematical and engineering frameworks used in canonical occupational hygiene exposure modelling — adapted to Australian flour and grain operations, calibrated to peer-reviewed sector data, and aligned with AIHA decision analysis.”

Sector-specific tools

One tool family. Calibrated for each facility type.

An industrial bakery is not a feed mill, and a café kitchen is not a grain elevator. FlourSafe ships as a family of facility-specific tools so the calibration and unit operations match your operational reality.

What gets assessed in a café or small-bakery shift

Bag handling

Opening, cutting, and tipping 5–25 kg flour bags. The highest-dust task in most café kitchens — typically 3–15 mg/m³ active-task GM without controls.

3 modelled variants

Weighing & transfer

Bench weighing, scaling into bowls, recipe portioning from bulk containers. Exposure depends heavily on container design and pour height.

4 modelled variants

Bench work

Hand mixing, kneading, shaping, croissant lamination, dusting. Continuous low-level generation throughout the task — adds up over a long shift.

4 modelled variants

Mechanised

Dough hook loading, planetary mixer charging, bench proofer handling. Equipment configuration and enclosure state dominate the exposure estimate.

2 modelled variants
Also available for other facility types
Industrial Bakery
Waitlist · expected [TBC] 2027
Join the waitlist →
Roller Mill
Waitlist · expected [TBC] 2027
Join the waitlist →
Specialty Mill
Waitlist · expected [TBC] 2027
Join the waitlist →
Grain Storage
Waitlist · expected [TBC] 2027
Join the waitlist →
Feed Mill
Waitlist · expected [TBC] 2027
Join the waitlist →
Free assessment, paid full report

Try the assessment free. Pay only when you need the deliverables.

The free tier produces the AIHA category and a defensible three-number summary for each unit operation. The paid Full Report adds the detailed exposure characterisation, controls hierarchy, and sampling plan you would commission a CIH to produce.

Stage 1 · Always free

Free Assessment

Run the tool on any unit operation. Get a defensible exposure estimate and AIHA category in under five minutes.

A$0
No registration required
  • Active-task geometric mean concentration
  • 95th percentile with uncertainty band
  • Multiple-of-WEL ratio
  • AIHA Bayesian exposure category (1–4)
  • Per-operation WEL (flour 0.5 / PNOS 10 mg/m³)
  • Combined worker-day TWA + per-task contribution chart
Start your assessment →
Recommended
Stage 2 · Full Report

Full Report

Detailed exposure estimation, hierarchy of controls, and sampling plan — the deliverables a regulator and your insurer expect to see.

A$3,500GST excl.
Flat rate · report delivered within 3–5 business days
  • Detailed exposure estimation per unit operation
  • Hierarchy of engineering controls & recommendations
  • Sampling plan per AS 3640-2009
  • RPE selection guidance with assigned protection factors
Request a Full Report →
A product of OH Consultant Australia

Built on certified occupational hygiene practice.

FlourSafe is developed and maintained by OH Consultant Australia — the same team behind EHS Atlas, the OH Proposal Engine, and the OHConnect practitioner marketplace. Methodology, calibration, and ongoing validation are led by certified occupational hygienists with cross-sector experience across pharmaceutical, FMCG, oil & gas, and food manufacturing.

CIH-led methodology
AIHA-aligned framework
AIOH professional practice
Australian regulatory calibration
Peer-reviewed sector data

Know your café worker’s full flour-dust day — before the limit drops.

Run the assessment yourself in about 30 minutes. See where your bakery sits against the 0.5 mg/m³ WEL. Pay only if you want the documented, hygienist-reviewed report — no sales call, no obligation.

Start your assessment →

Run the assessment free. Pay only if you want the documented report.

CAFÉ & SMALL-BAKERY · WORKER-DAY TWA · CALIBRATED FOR NEW 2026 WEL
Disclaimer

FlourSafe provides indicative exposure estimates based on a mathematical model. Results are not a substitute for professional occupational hygiene assessment or personal air monitoring conducted by a qualified hygienist. Outputs are intended for preliminary screening purposes only and should not be used as the sole basis for compliance decisions. Compliance determinations must be made in consultation with a Certified Industrial Hygienist or equivalent qualified professional. Applicable WEL reference: 0.5 mg/m³ inhalable flour dust (Safe Work Australia, effective 1 December 2026). OH Consultant Australia accepts no liability for actions taken solely in reliance on model outputs without professional verification.