WorkSafe has granted a class exemption for every PCBU with management or control of quarantine or pre-shipment fumigation using methyl bromide commencing 1 December 2017.

A class exemption has been granted by WorkSafe in accordance with section 220 of the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 to every PCBU who undertakes quarantine or pre-shipment fumigation using methyl bromide on a ship berthed at Berth MP1 inside the Northport Marsden Wharf Security Area and within 100 metres of a landside public access area adjacent to Berth MP1.

The exemption is granted subject to the terms and conditions that:

1. each hold on the ship must be located at least 50 metres from the landside public access area.
2. Each hold that is positioned less than 100 metres from the public access area must be vented sequentially, that is, one at a time.
3. No other hold on the ship are to be vented concurrently with a hold that is less than 100 metres from the public access area.
4. Monitoring at the boundary of the 50 metre buffer zone must be undertaken in accordance with the Environmental Risk Management Decision HRC08002.
5. The quantity of methyl bromide applied to each of the holds that are within 100 metres of the landside public access area must be less than 1000 kilograms.