Asbestos

Whether at work or home, exposure to asbestos fibres is very dangerous.

Understanding the health and safety requirements for managing and removing asbestos will make your place of work safer for everyone.

Update on asbestos in soil
Sites that have received soil potentially contaminated with asbestos.

What's asbestos?

Asbestos is a mineral found in nature that is made up of millions of fibres. Until the mid to late 1980s, asbestos was included in building materials because it’s resistant to heat and corrosion. Asbestos was also included in plant and equipment manufactured and imported up to 2003. Asbestos is still commonly used in some countries.

What are the risks of asbestos?

The risk of disease from asbestos depends on how often and how long a person has been exposed. Asbestos fibres become dangerous when they become airborne and can be breathed in, causing:

asbestosis (scarring of lung tissue)
mesothelioma (cancerous tumours that develop around the intestine or lungs)
pleural plaques (thickening of membranes around the lungs)
cancer of the lung, larynx and ovary.

Symptoms of asbestos-related diseases include breathing difficulties and scarring of the lung that can be detected by x-ray.

How do I manage the risks?

It’s your duty to manage the risks of asbestos to protect your workers and others from illness. So you need to make sure that you're aware of any asbestos or asbestos containing materials (ACM) at your place of work. Following a four-step risk management process will help your business meet its responsibilities under work health and safety (WHS) laws.

Step 1. Identify the hazard

Identifying asbestos and ACM in your place of work is the first step. This must be done by someone with the proper training, qualification and experience. You can see who's qualified to do this in the How to manage and control asbestos in the workplace Code of Practice 2011.

The Queensland Government has a dedicated asbestos website with useful information covering where to look for asbestos and information on high-risk prohibited work such as the prohibited use of high-pressure water spray on ACMs. The website also has information on asbestos registers. You must keep an asbestos register if there's asbestos or ACM in your place of work. Buildings constructed after 31 December 1989 don't need an asbestos register unless asbestos has been identified at your place of work.

You must also make an asbestos management plan if asbestos has been identified. This will help you to set out how you’re going to manage asbestos or ACM in your place of work. Asbestos management plans and registers must be updated at least every five years.

Step 2. Assess the risk

If asbestos has been found, the next step is to make a risk assessment. This will help you figure out:

if there is a risk that your workers could be exposed to airborne asbestos
whether any effective control measures are in place
what actions you can take to control this risk
how urgently you should act.

It’s important to know that asbestos or ACM that’s in good condition and left untouched, is relatively low risk. Asbestos is most dangerous when it’s deteriorating, damaged or disturbed. This is when the harmful asbestos fibres become airborne.

When deciding if there’s a risk, you must consider whether the asbestos is:

in poor condition
likely to deteriorate or be damaged
likely to be disturbed due to work carried out in your place of work
in an area where workers are exposed to the material.

You can find more information on assessing the risk of asbestos in the How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2011.

Step 3. Control the risk

After assessing the risk of exposure to airborne asbestos in your place of work, you’ll need to use a control measure. You may need to use a combination of these controls in order to meet your responsibilities under WHS laws.

Control measures

Eliminating the risk
If the asbestos or ACM in your place of work is posing a serious risk, you should remove it. The How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2011 sets out how to remove asbestos including requirements for inspections, removal, transport and disposal. You can read more about the laws, methods and requirements that apply to your situation when you remove and dispose of asbestos in the legislation and codes of practice. Make sure you understand what asbestos notifications you must make to Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, as well as when and how to submit your notifications.
Isolating the risk
If it's not reasonably practicable to remove the asbestos, you can isolate it. This is done by enclosing, encapsulating or sealing up the asbestos.

Step 4. Review risk controls

Risk management should be an ongoing process in your business and you should review your control measures regularly. Don’t wait until something goes wrong.

As part of your ongoing risk management, health monitoring is required for workers under certain circumstances.

Work health and safety laws require you to review controls:

when you become aware a control measure is not working effectively
before a change that might give rise to a new risk
when you find a new hazard or risk
when your workers tell you that a review is needed
after a health and safety representative requests a review.

Asbestos management plans and registers must be updated at least every five years.

The How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021 (PDF, 0.65 MB) includes a list of questions to help you identify any issues.

Consultative committee for work-related fatalities and serious incidents

The committee was established to ensure there is an ongoing consultative forum for injured workers and families affected by a workplace death, illness or serious incident. Read more about the committee.

Codes of practice

You should read through the relevant legislation and codes of practice carefully to make sure your business is complying with the health and safety duties in the WHS Act.

Asbestos Awareness Week 2023

Asbestos Awareness Week promotes the importance of living and working safely with asbestos. We showed householders and tradies where asbestos might be found in homes, buildings and what they should do to stay safe.