Asbestos and its impact in the workplace

By Robert Cook and Michael Connolly.

Key Points:
Employers should ensure adequate identification and control of asbestos in the workplace to ensure compliance with the duties imposed under Occupational Health and Safety legislation.

In light of the current James Hardie litigation, public awareness of the risk to health and safety to people of exposure to asbestos is at an all-time high.

Asbestos may be found in a large number of workplaces owned or occupied by Government organisations because they were constructed at a time when building materials consisting of asbestos were widely used.

Federal, Territory and State legislation in the area of Occupational Health and Safety require a systematic approach to safety in the workplace. All legislation imposes strict duties on employers to ensure the health and safety of employees in the workplace. These duties oblige employers to put in place systems for the detection and identification of hazards, risks and their ultimate control.

The National Occupational Health and Safety Commission (NOHSC) has published guides and codes of practice for the control and safe removal of asbestos. The measures outlined in the guides and codes of practice provide a systematic risk management approach to the control of asbestos exposure in the workplace.

The degree of public awareness surrounding asbestos in the workplace is evidenced in the response received by NOSHC to the current revision of the Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos and the implementation of a new Code of Practice for the Management and Control of Asbestos in Workplaces which is based on the current Guide to the Control of Asbestos Hazards in Building Structures. The draft versions of these documents were released for a three month public consultation period in March 2004. However, due to the large amount of comment received during the public comment period, the two codes of practice have undergone a significant redraft.

What can Government employers do?

Government departments in their role as employer must ensure that adequate identification of asbestos in the workplace is undertaken in a systematic manner.

Employers must, in line with their duties under the Occupational Health and Safety legislation, ensure that they adequately inform themselves of any asbestos hazards that may be present at their place of work. This process includes a survey of the workplace by a Competent Person (eg. an accredited Occupational Hygienist) from which an asbestos register is produced.

Once the presence of asbestos has been confirmed a risk assessment should be undertaken to ensure that the activities of employees do not result in the risk of exposure to asbestos.

The NOHSC Guide to the Control of Asbestos Hazards in Buildings and Structures provides some practical measures that employers may take to ensure compliance with their Occupational Health and Safety obligations. Those measures are:

• the provision and maintenance of safe and healthy work environments practices and written policies on the control of asbestos;
• compliance with legislative provisions;
• liaising with property owners on a continuing basis so that the existence and condition of asbestos in the working environment is known;
• the provision of adequate instruction and training for employees and supervision of health and safety measures;
• consultation with employees, their representatives and organisations, and the appropriate regulating authority on the control of exposure to airborne asbestos; and
• anticipation of the need for control of asbestos risks to be initiated in any particular case.

How does an employer deal with identified asbestos?

The Guide to the Control of Asbestos Hazards in Buildings and Structures provides a number of control measures that may be taken once asbestos is identified in a workplace:

• deferring any action;
• encapsulating or sealing the asbestos;
• enclosing the area that contains asbestos; or
• removal of the asbestos.

As a result of the public knowledge of the consequences of asbestos exposure it is important for employers to undertake appropriate risk management strategies for the identification and control of asbestos in their workplaces.

Once asbestos has been identified consultation between the employer, employees and other interested parties (eg. unions) should occur as soon as practicable to enable a plan of action outlining what immediate steps will be taken to ensure the health and safety of employees and also informing employees and other parties of the control measure that will be implemented to ensure employees, ongoing health and safety.

An employer who does not adequately control asbestos in its workplace and as a result exposes its employees to the risk of exposure to asbestos will most likely be found to be in breach of the duties imposed by Occupational Health and Safety legislation.

Postscript

The two NOHSC Codes of Practice referred to in the article have now been released. They are:

• Code of Practice for the Safe Removal of Asbestos 2nd Edition [NOHSC: 2002 (2005)]; and
• Code of Practice for the Management and Control of Asbestos in Workplaces [NOHSC: 2018 (2005)]