This Progress Report highlights that the importance of cooperation to eliminate asbestos risks from our built environment. Working collaboratively with industry, employer and employee representatives, disease support groups and independent experts is critical to achieving the ambitious goals of the National Strategic Plan.
The aim of this study was to identify the current products and practices in use for containing and stabilising asbestos either to assist in the removal of asbestos-containing materials or to maintain the asbestos-containing materials in-situ.
There is generally a lack of knowledge and awareness in the community about asbestos identification and its safe management in residential settings. The amount and condition of in situ asbestos containing materials remaining in Western Australian housing stock is not known. Therefore, the Western Australia Department of Health aimed to develop and validate a mobile application (‘app’) that can be used by householders, tradespeople and environmental health officers to screen the home for the presence of in situ asbestos.
Water supply pipelines installed throughout Western Australia in the 1960s and 1970s were coated in a bituminous material containing asbestos and other contaminants. In 2016, Western Australia Water Corporation launched a project to collect, treat and dispose of significant quantities of the asbestos coal tar coated pipes and manage impacts from the pipes that had been removed from the network and stored throughout the State.
As asbestos cement roofs deteriorate, they release asbestos fibres into the environment. Asbestos cement roofs can cause considerable contamination as a result of fires, non-compliant removal practices, and illegal dumping. This case study investigated the barriers to the safe removal of asbestos containing materials from Government, commercial and residential properties and develop policy options to support the removal of asbestos in poor condition.
On 31 December 2016, the Victorian government established the Victorian Asbestos Eradication Agency (VAEA) to plan for the prioritised removal of asbestos from Victorian government-owned buildings. The VAEA will report annually to the government on the progress of removal. The reporting cycle will ensure a consistent, risk-based approach across government to the assessment, removal and management of ACMs in Victorian Government buildings now and into the future.
