Notice before asbestos removal work in Victoria

5.1 When WorkSafe must hear about the job

WorkSafe Victoria needs a notification for each job and each location where asbestos removal work happens, and making one requires an asbestos removal licence. The timing depends on the job.

1. At least 5 days beforeEvery job not covered by the two lines below. That includes friable asbestos, more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos, and non-friable asbestos that is not in a building, structure, ship or plant.
2. At least 24 hours beforeRemoval of a total of 10 square metres or less of non-friable asbestos material that is in a building, structure, ship or plant.
3. Within 24 hours after startingRemoval forced by an unexpected situation, under regulation 299. WorkSafe’s code gives two examples: a burst pipe lagged with asbestos, and a forklift crashing into a wall of asbestos cement sheet.

Regulation 298 says the notice must be in writing and carry the details listed in Schedule 13 of the Regulations. If any of those details change while the matter is ongoing, the licence holder must tell WorkSafe in writing as soon as reasonably possible, a change of supervisor excepted. WorkSafe can also vary the notice rules through a condition on a particular licence.

5.2 The copy of the notice

Before work starts, the licence holder must hand a copy of that notice to whoever commissioned the removal work. It is a useful document to keep with the rest of the job’s paperwork: it shows the job was notified, which is something every licensed removalist must do.

5.3 Who nearby is told

Regulation 301 requires the person who commissions asbestos removal work to tell all employers and other people occupying premises in the immediate and adjacent areas about the work before it starts. When the work is at a home, the same regulation treats the employer or self-employed person doing the removal as the one who commissioned it, so the duty sits with them. An employer who is told about the work in this way must, in turn, tell their own employees in the immediate and adjacent areas before it starts.

Smaller jobs are covered too. A business engaged to do limited asbestos removal work, the kind that needs no licence, must tell the person who commissioned it before starting.

If you are removing asbestos from your own home, Asbestos in Victoria asks you to consider your neighbours and anyone near your home , and the national agency suggests telling neighbours about the work and asking them to keep doors and windows shut while it happens.

5.4 What the Regulations require on the day

• An asbestos control plan, prepared by the licence holder before removal starts. At a home, the plan does not have to draw on an asbestos register.
• Signs and barricades marking the removal area, with access limited to the people doing the removal, people whose work the removal requires (an occupational hygienist is the Regulations’ example), and police or others with a legal right to be there.
• Protective clothing provided to the workers, correctly fitted and suited to the job. Contaminated clothing may leave only as asbestos waste or to go to a laundry equipped for asbestos.
• For friable (Class A) work, an enclosure around the area so far as is reasonably practicable , smoke-tested for leaks before work starts, and a wet method, which the Regulations say does not include a high-pressure water jet.

The job ends with the checks in the field on clearance and air monitoring, and the waste leaves as described in the field on waste and transport. Which licence the job needs is in the field on licence classes.

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• 1Licence class
• 2Waste and transport
• 3Doing it yourself
• 4Clearance
• 6Older homes