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- The national asbestos agency says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, though in Victoria the Better Health Channel says householders may legally remove it from their own property, and recommends that only a licensed professional removes loosely bound material. The national agency adds that a licensed asbestos removalist is the safer choice.
- WorkSafe Victoria says exposure to every type of airborne asbestos fibre is hazardous to human health.
- Asbestos fibres are most likely to be released when asbestos material is disturbed, for example by drilling, cutting, sawing or breaking it. Victorian guidance warns against power tools, abrasive cutting or sanding discs, compressed air, high-pressure water jets, and dry-sanding, wire-brushing or scraping a surface before painting it. WorkSafe Victoria’s flood-recovery advice adds that when you clean asbestos material that is still in place and not damaged, you should avoid high-pressure washers or water blasters, which can damage it and spread asbestos debris and fibres, and power tools or abrasive materials such as sanders. Better Health says never to saw, grind, drill or break asbestos with power tools, and to use hand tools if you must. The national agency adds that you should never clean asbestos with high-pressure water or anything abrasive, such as scrubbing, sanding or grinding, because it can spread contamination widely.
- In Victoria, asbestos waste may go only to a site EPA Victoria has authorised to accept it, and EPA keeps the list of landfills licensed for asbestos waste. It must never go in a general, recycling or green waste bin.
1.1 The two classes, as the Regulations define them
The class turns on the kind of material being removed.
| Licence | Work it covers | Who may do that work |
|---|---|---|
| Class A | Removing friable asbestos, and asbestos-contaminated dust that did not come from removing non-friable asbestos (beyond limited work). | A Class A licence holder or its employees. Regulation 264 adds one narrow case: a contractor engaged by the licence holder to operate an excavator, directly supervised the whole time. |
| Class B | Removing non-friable asbestos, and the dust that comes from removing it (beyond limited work). | A holder of a Class A or Class B licence, or their employees (regulation 265). |
Friable or non-friable
Under the Regulations, material is friable if, when dry, it can be crumbled, pulverised or reduced to powder by hand pressure, or if a work process has left it that way. Non-friable material is the opposite: the fibres are bonded into cement or another hard binder. WorkSafe Victoria notes that non-friable material can deteriorate until it counts as friable , and its 2019 code adds fire damage as one cause. Where it is unclear whether fire-damaged asbestos is friable, the code says to assume it is, or to have someone qualified decide, such as an occupational hygienist.
In homes, WorkSafe says most asbestos material is non-friable, such as cement sheet. The asbestos backing on some vinyl floor coverings is a friable example , and WorkSafe recommends that a licensed removalist takes up floor coverings with asbestos backing.
1.2 The limited work that needs no licence
WorkSafe Victoria says unlicensed removal is allowed only in certain circumstances, including removing non-friable material where the amount is 10 square metres or less and the employer or self-employed person does no more than 1 hour of asbestos removal work in total in a 7-day period. Regulation 250 also sets two narrow rules for removing asbestos-contaminated dust.
The clock is shared. WorkSafe’s 2019 code counts the time of everyone doing the work together, so two employees working about 30 minutes each make 60 minutes. The clock starts when the people removing the asbestos need to wear respirators, and stops when they no longer do.
One of the code’s own examples: a single cement sheet of two square metres is removed to fit an air conditioner, two employees take under 30 minutes, and nobody at the company has done other asbestos removal in the past seven days. A company without a licence may do that job.
These limits are written for employers and self-employed people. Removing asbestos from your own home is covered in the field on doing it yourself.
1.3 What a licence holder has shown WorkSafe
WorkSafe Victoria’s licence application asks for evidence that is worth knowing about when you weigh up a removalist.
- For Class A, a current external certificate for an occupational health and safety management system that covers asbestos removal, or, without one, proof of a review after an audit by an occupational health and safety officer in the past six months.
- For each site supervisor, a site supervisor training course delivered by a registered training organisation, at least two years’ experience as a WorkSafe licensed asbestos removalist, and at least six removal projects in the past two years.
- Medical practitioners’ reports from the past two years confirming workers are fit for the work.
- Details of the worksite vacuum cleaner, confirmed as a hazardous dust class H machine.
A licence lasts up to five years, and a Class B holder who wants Class A must apply for a new licence.
1.4 Checking and what follows
EPA Victoria points to WorkSafe’s service providers directory, which lists licensed asbestos removalists. Before work starts, a licence holder must prepare an asbestos control plan and notify WorkSafe, then give a copy of that notice to the person who commissioned the work. Both are covered in the field on notice before removal work, and the inspection at the end in the field on clearance and air monitoring.
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Whether a job is Class A, Class B or limited work turns on what the material is, so that is a good first question to put to a licensed asbestos removalist.