Asbestos is a hazardous material that poses a risk to health by inhalation if the asbestos fibres become airborne and people are exposed to these airborne fibres.
Exposure to asbestos fibres is known to cause mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer.
Asbestos-containing materials were used extensively in Australian buildings and structures, plant and equipment and in ships, trains and motor vehicles during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and some uses, including some friction materials and gaskets, were only discontinued on 31 December 2003.
On 17 October 2001, the National Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) declared a prohibition on all uses of chrysotile (white) asbestos from 31 December 2003, subject to a very limited range of exemptions.
This prohibition, originally set out in the Amendments to Schedule 2 of the National Model Regulations for the Control of Workplace Hazardous Substances (Prohibition of Asbestos) 2001 and subsequently reflected in Australian Government, State and Territory occupational health and safety and hazardous substances legislation, also confirmed earlier prohibitions of the use of amosite (brown) and crocidolite (blue) asbestos.
(There are no known current uses in Australia of the other three forms of asbestos: actinolite, anthophyllite and tremolite.)
Under the National Model Regulations for the Control of Workplace Hazardous Substances the chrysotile asbestos ban prohibits the use (i.e. manufacture, supply, storage, sale, use, re-use, installation and replacement) of chrysotile asbestos except for:
• bona fide research or analysis;
• removal, handling and storage for disposal;
• chrysotile asbestos encountered during non-asbestos mining; and
• a small number of time-limited exemptions for particular, specified uses for which substitution by an alternative to chrysotile asbestos is technically impossible or would create significantly greater health, safety and environmental risks.
Similarly, the use of brown and blue asbestos is prohibited except for:
• removal and disposal purposes; and
• situations where brown or blue asbestos occurs naturally and is not used for any new application.