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Register
Workplace asbestos
Column D
The survey
Checked
8 Oct 2026

The asbestos register, all six columns

Column D · The survey

Asbestos surveys before refurbishment or demolition

Before refurbishing or demolishing a structure or plant built or installed before 31 December 2003, the person with management or control must review the register, revise it if it is not adequate for the work, give a copy to the business doing the work, and make sure asbestos likely to be disturbed is identified and, so far as reasonably practicable, removed first. The code notes two exceptions: some emergencies where a structure or plant is unsound or about to collapse, and demolition done to reach the asbestos itself. A refurbishment survey is how the gaps get found.

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.

Why the everyday register is not enough

Safe Work Australia’s registers guide says a typical register may list the asbestos and ACM that is visible and accessible, and unsurveyed areas raise the risk of disturbing unknown asbestos. The model code agrees: a register built for everyday use might not show every piece.

So the code describes a separate demolition or refurbishment survey, which may involve extensive sampling and testing, because parts of a building or plant that are normally out of reach are likely to be disturbed.

What counts as refurbishment

The model code’s examples are partial dismantling: a boiler opened for cleaning and repair, plant taken apart to swap asbestos gaskets, sections of an asbestos cement roof removed, or part of a building opened up for renovation. Minor routine maintenance and minor work, such as cutting a small hole in an eave for a cable, are not included.

Six questions to put to the register

Before the work, the model code suggests asking:

  1. Where is the asbestos, relative to the planned work?
  2. Will the work reach inaccessible areas that probably hold asbestos?
  3. What type of asbestos is it, and in what condition?
  4. How much is there?
  5. How will the work be done, and what will that do to the material?
  6. If the work will disturb it, can it be removed safely beforehand, and how?

The code says locked rooms, crawl spaces, basements and cellars, storage areas, ceiling spaces, fire doors and locked safes do not count as inaccessible: they must be inspected, or assumed to contain asbestos. Where part of a workplace really is inaccessible and likely to contain asbestos, the model regulations require asbestos to be assumed there.

Who surveys, and who tests

The national agency calls a survey “a specialised task that requires training and experience”. Under the model code only a competent person may take samples, because sampling raises the risk of releasing fibres; Queensland notes that the person taking a sample does not have to be a licensed removalist, and that a handheld near infrared analyser “is not an appropriate test method.”

Safe Work Australia’s worked example

The registers guide illustrates the duty with a 1970s arcade. In order:

  1. The planThe owner plans to demolish the original air conditioning plant and refurbish one shop for a new tenant, and consults the other tenants.
  2. The requestThe contractor asks for the register, so the owner arranges a review.
  3. The surveyA competent person carries out a demolition and refurbishment survey of the shop, the plant and areas usually out of reach.
  4. The findAsbestos turns up in parts of the plant and “under two layers of floor coverings in the shop”, and the register is revised.
  5. Before workThe revised register goes to the contractor and tenants, and asbestos likely to be disturbed is safely removed first.

Demolition carries further duties of its own: the model demolition code treats demolition likely to disturb asbestos as high risk construction work that needs a safe work method statement before it starts.