Asbestos and your safety
Asbestos was banned in December 2003. However, it can still be found in many types of buildings and in soil if it was not properly removed and disposed of before the ban.
Asbestos is extremely harmful to health. Any amount of asbestos must be managed and disposed of safely. To reduce risk:
- do not disturb any debris or materials that may contain asbestos
- always get expert advice for safe handling and removal.
Who manages asbestos in Western Australia?
Asbestos in the workplace and mining is managed by WorkSafe, Department of Local Government, Industry Regulations and Safety, while transport, disposal and soil contamination is regulated by the Department of Water and Environment Regulation.
Asbestos removalists and assessors
If you are thinking about using an asbestos removalist or assessor, use the ServiceWA app or the Online Licence Search to check that they are licensed.
A list of licensed asbestos assessors can also be found on WorkSafe’s website.
Testing labs
The National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) is the Australian government-accredited body that ensures asbestos testing laboratories meet recognised national and international standards.
If you need to test a material for asbestos, send your samples to a NATA-accredited laboratory. These labs follow strict protocols and approved methods to give reliable results.
Your test report will state whether asbestos is present, absent or unknown fibres were found.
If the results are unclear, you can treat the material as asbestos or request further testing using advanced techniques such as Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) or X-ray Diffraction (XRD).
You can read more about asbestos testing requirements and methods on the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency website.
To find a testing lab, visit NATA’s accredited testing laboratory database or find Australian laboratories that can do asbestos testing.
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