Asbestos licence and Law around Asbestos in Australia

In Victoria, WorkSafe Victoria regulates the removal of asbestos in workplaces. There is no regulation covering the removal of asbestos from residential properties, unless the property is deemed to be a workplace. The property would be deemed to be a workplace when you engage a contractor to work on site.

Nevertheless, it is crucial that the company you employ to remove asbestos is fully licensed (either as Class A – both friable and non friable or Class B – non friable only). Request to see their Asbestos Licence Number and contact WorkSafe to ensure that the company is allowed to remove asbestos from your property.

Failure to ensure that a licensed contractor is carrying out the work may

result in both the company and yourself, as the property owner, being fined – unless the amount of asbestos material being removed is less than 10m2 and is non friable.

Asbestos Licence holders are required to notify WorkSafe prior to any asbestos removal work being undertaken. The employees of organisations that are licensed for asbestos removal work must be trained and wear personal protective equipment (PPE) including respiratory protection when undertaking such work.

The Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA), controls the disposal of waste asbestos whether from a workplace or household, In addition, the EPA controls the transportation of asbestos when undertaken by a commercial contractor.

If you have asbestos on your property and want or need it removed, consult a licensed professional removalist.

There are a lot of factors that can influence the cost of asbestos removal besides the condition and amount of asbestos to be removed, for example trees or other obstacles along a fence line, accessibility, steep roof slopes, heights and location of the material, distance to the licensed landfill and tipping costs and the size of the pieces of materials to be removed.

Removal of asbestos from inside your home is dangerous and generally more expensive due to the safety procedures that have to be followed and the extensive clean-up that has to be conducted after removal work has been completed.

Because there are so many variables for the asbestos removal company to consider, give them as much information as possible when you are requesting quotes. Without accurate information from you, the companies may give low initial quotes and have to revise them upwards, sometimes drastically, when they inspect your property.