Organisations in Australia must comply with stringent new safety regulations where asbestos Containing Material (ACM) is present in buildings. New asbestos risk management requirements in Australia place more important legal obligations on any business that owns buildings or sites with Asbestos Containing Material.

Are You Affected?

The new regulations affect anyone who owns, manages or occupies buildings or sites containing asbestos, even those that were compliant under the 2005 Code of Practice.

You must comply with the legislation;

• • Develop an Asbestos Management Plan;

  • Investigate their premises for the presence of ACM;

  • Develop a register of identified or presumed ACM;

  • Remove or minimize the risk of ACM;

  • Implement Control MEasures.
     

• Incomplete past asbestos audit: If you have previously undertaken an audit for “asbestos materials” at your property and this did not include auditing for “asbestos products” (i.e. bonded products), you must now identify all sources of the newly defined asbestos-containing materials at the property.
   

• Sites with asbestos: If asbestos has been identified at your property, you are required to undertake an annual review of the materials and register to confirm that the materials have not deteriorated into an unsafe condition. If any asbestos-containing material is unstable or has been disturbed, There may be a requirement for more frequent reviews to be undertaken.

What must you do?

If asbestos is identified in your building or workplace the owner of the building (or owner’s representative) is required to document and implement an asbestos management plan in accordance with the national code of practice.

This plan is to include items such as:

• A register of asbestos-containing materials at the workplace.
   

• Details of maintenance and service work undertaken on asbestos-containing materials.
   

• Mechanisms for communicating the location and type of asbestos-containing materials to employees and others who may come into contact with asbestos-containing materials.
   

• Any decisions regarding the abatement actions taken.
   

• An action plan (including timeframes) for the abatement works.
   

• Airborne monitoring arrangements.
   

• Responsibilities and accountabilities of key staff in the implementation of the plan.
   

• Procedure for reviewing and updating the plan.
   

• Safe work method statements / risk assessments.
   

• All asbestos-containing materials left in-situ should be clearly labelled to prevent inadvertent exposure to persons not familiar with the materials.