Walters, HaydnWilliams, TrevorBryant, DavidJennings, MartinMusk, BillFaunce, Thomas2009-04-212010-12-202009-04-212010-12-201743-8462http://hdl.handle.net/10440/103On 22 June 2005 the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia voted to establish an inquiry into workplace harm related to toxic dust and emerging technologies (including nanoparticles). The inquiry became known as the "White" Inquiry after Mr Richard White, a financially uncompensated sufferer of industrial sandblasting-induced lung disease who was instrumental in its establishment. The "White" Inquiry delivered its final report and recommendations on 31 May 2006. This paper examines whether these recommendations and their implementation may provide a unique opportunity not only to modernize relevant monitoring standards and processes, but related compensation systems for disease associated with workplace-related exposure to toxic dusts. It critically analyzes the likely role of the new Australian Safety and Compensation Council (ASCC) in this area. It also considers whether recommendations related to potential workplace related harm from exposure to nanoparticles could commence a major shift in Australian healthcare regulation.5 pagesThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Keywords: nanoparticle; article; Australia; chemical industry; dust exposure; financial management; government; health care organization; health care policy; human; monitoring; occupational disease; occupational exposure; occupational hazard; occupational health; o2006-06-1710.1186/1743-8462-3-72015-12-08