- Register
- Workplace asbestos
- Column C
- The plan
- Checked
- 8 Oct 2026
The asbestos register, all six columns
Column C · The plan
The asbestos management plan
Once asbestos is identified at a workplace, or is likely to be there from time to time, the person with management or control must make sure a written asbestos management plan is prepared and kept up to date. The register says where the asbestos is; the plan says what will be done about it.
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.
The register sits inside the plan
Safe Work Australia’s registers guide calls the register “an important part of the written Asbestos Management Plan for your workplace”, and says that if asbestos and ACM has been identified at your workplace, or is assumed to be present, you must have an Asbestos Management Plan prepared for it.
A business preparing a plan “must consult with workers and their representatives”, the guide says, giving them a chance to contribute to the decisions in it.
Four things it must cover
The model regulations name four subjects the plan must include information about, and give examples for three of them.
| Subject | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Identifying the asbestos | For example, a reference or link to the workplace’s register, and its signs and labels |
| Decisions, with the reasons for them | For example, safe work procedures and control measures |
| Incidents and emergencies | Procedures for detailing any incident or emergency that involves asbestos |
| Workers who work with asbestos | For example, consultation, responsibilities, information and training |
The model code says a plan may also hold how risks will be controlled, a timetable with priorities and review dates, each person’s responsibilities, a review timetable for the plan and register, and any air monitoring procedures.
Queensland’s own page goes further and lists, among what a plan must include, the record of maintenance or service work on the asbestos: “who performed the work”, “the dates it was done” and “the scope of the work”, with any clearance certificates. Queensland adds that the document “should set out clear aims, stating what is going to be done, when it is going to be done, and how it is going to be done.”
When the plan is reviewed
Under the model regulations the plan is reviewed, and revised where needed, in five circumstances:
- the register, or a control measure, is reviewed;
- asbestos at the workplace is removed, disturbed, sealed or enclosed;
- the plan has stopped being adequate for managing the asbestos;
- a health and safety representative asks for a review;
- at least once every five years.
A representative may ask only if they reasonably believe one of the first three events affects, or may affect, someone in their work group, and the plan was not properly reviewed in response. The register’s own triggers are in column F.
Who may read it
The model regulations require a copy to be readily accessible to the same four groups who may read the register: workers there, their health and safety representatives, businesses that carry out work there, and businesses that require work to be done there. The model code adds that the plan should be kept at the workplace so it stays accessible.
New South Wales and Victoria
New South Wales. SafeWork NSW says that if asbestos has been identified, you must prepare and maintain a plan, “regardless if the asbestos is naturally occurring or manufactured”, and review it at least every five years or when a health and safety representative requests it or asbestos is removed, disturbed, sealed or enclosed.
Victoria. WorkSafe Victoria’s compliance code says the Victorian regulations do not require an asbestos management plan, but describes one as a useful tool for managing the risks.