Labels and signs for asbestos at work

The person with management or control of a workplace must make sure the presence and location of identified asbestos is clearly indicated, and where it is reasonably practicable, by a label. Signs, site plans and permits to work are what the guidance turns to when a label cannot do the job.

General information, not legal or safety advice. Safe Work Australia is reviewing the model asbestos framework, including the regulations and codes of practice, and your Commonwealth, state or territory WHS regulator can advise on registers and compliance.

A label at the asbestos itself

Safe Work Australia’s registers guide says that, whenever possible, you must make sure a label is placed wherever material has been identified as asbestos or ACM, or is assumed to be. It adds that the register should carry information about the labels, to help a person find the asbestos.

The model code says the labels’ positions should match the locations in the register, and that a competent person can advise how many labels are needed and where. It applies the duty to assumed asbestos too, including asbestos in inaccessible places. Queensland states the same duty in its own words.

One label does double work. Safe Work Australia suggests you “put a label in the electrical meter box” showing that the building has asbestos and where the register is kept.

When a label will not work

The sources describe the alternatives. Read each row as that source’s own advice.

Ways to show where asbestos is
Method	What the source says	Source
Warning sign beside it	If a risk assessment suggests the asbestos may be disturbed or people exposed, and labelling it directly is not reasonably practicable, a prominent sign close by; for asbestos floor tiles, a sign on the next wall.	Model code
Signs at entrances	Signs complying with AS 1319-1994, placed at every main entrance to work areas where asbestos is found.	Safe Work Australia
Signs to the register	Signs telling people how to reach the register, in places such as the administration office, reception or the electrical meter box.	Registers guide
Permit to work	A system that makes sure workers know about the asbestos before they start at the site.	Safe Work Australia
Site plans	Plans showing where the asbestos is, made available to all workers.	Safe Work Australia

The model code adds that warning signs should be weatherproof, light and properly secured, and that a permit-to-work system is a way to make sure plumbers, electricians and carpenters know where asbestos is before they start work. Its sample wording for labels and signs is a guide only; the words are not mandatory.

Victoria’s examples

WorkSafe Victoria’s compliance code, written for Victoria’s own regulations, recommends direct labelling and, where that is not reasonably practicable, labels as close to the asbestos as they can go. Its examples:

in a room with asbestos vinyl floor tiles, labels with a downward arrow on the skirting boards of all four walls;
for a ceiling space holding lagged steam pipes in good condition, a label at the access hatch;
for an asbestos cement roof, labels at the points where people get onto the roof.

The same code calls colour-coded labels and signs at entrances less effective than direct labelling; for colour coding, that is because employees and contractors have to be told what the colours mean and what to do when they find one. It also suggests labelling material that could be mistaken for asbestos but does not contain it, which may save time, confusion and money.

Before anyone disturbs it

Asbestos in good condition that is left alone is unlikely to release fibres, and the model code rates the health risk then as extremely low. Disturbing it is what puts fibres in the air, and Safe Work Australia warns that breathing them can cause life-threatening diseases, among them asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, which may not show until 20 to 30 years after exposure.

The national agency says it is “not recommended that you handle or remove asbestos yourself”, and its workplace page says WHS laws, in most circumstances, require removal from a workplace to be done by a licensed asbestos removalist.

Never on asbestos: the model regulations bar a business from using high-pressure water spray or compressed air on it; the agency warns against cleaning any asbestos material with high-pressure water or abrasion such as scrubbing, sanding or grinding; SafeWork NSW explains that cutting, drilling and water blasting release fibres into the air; and Queensland’s renovation guidance says not to “saw, sand, scrape or drill holes in asbestos materials”.

Asbestos waste, the agency says, must go to a landfill site licensed to accept it, and the model code adds that it never goes in the general waste system and is carried and disposed of under your own state or territory environment protection authority’s rules.