Removing asbestos in workplaces - Compliance ... - WorkSafe Victoria

Legislation that applies to asbestos removalAsbestos-contaminated dust62. A minor contamination of asbestos-contaminated dust is where:(a) for the entire removal job, the asbestos-contaminated dust can beremoved within a period of time not exceeding 10 minutes in total andthe total cumulative time over which all asbestos-contaminated dust jobsundertaken does not exceed one hour in any period of seven days. Wherethese time limits have been or are likely to be exceeded (consider job startand finish times in paragraphs 60 and 61), the job is greater than a minorcontamination and a class A-licensed removalist is required, or(b) an independent and competent person determines that asbestoscontaminateddust constitutes a minor contamination (even when thetime limits in (a) are likely to be exceeded). When making a decision,the independent and competent person must act in accordance with theRegulations and consider the likelihood of airborne levels of asbestosexceeding half the exposure standard during the removal process.Asbestos-contaminated dust that is a minor contaminationAn employer has two employees carrying out an asbestos-contaminated dustclean-up for five minutes each as a ‘one-off’ task. The total (cumulative) timespent by the employer is 10 minutes. Because this ‘one-off’ task can beperformed within a period of time not exceeding 10 minutes in total, theremoval is considered a minor contamination and the employer is not requiredto have a licence.Asbestos-contaminated dust that exceeds a minor contamination(i) A large warehouse has surfaces covered in asbestos-contaminated dust.The dust has come from the asbestos cement roof which has since beenenclosed with a false ceiling. The total job would take more than 10minutes. The removal exceeds a minor contamination and the DangerousGoods Order requires a class A-licensed removalist to carry out this work.(ii) An employer has two employees that service a number of workplaces. Partof their work involves carrying out incidental asbestos-contaminated dustclean-up for up to five minutes each time they perform a particular task.The task does not require removal of fixed or installed ACM. The numberof these tasks performed each week can vary from none to 20. The total(cumulative) time over which removal of asbestos-contaminated dust isundertaken by the employer occasionally exceeds one hour in a periodof seven days (ie five minutes per task multiplied by 20 tasks equatesto 100 minutes), therefore the removal exceeds a minor contamination.The Dangerous Goods Order requires that a class A-licensed removalistcarry sout this removal work.WorkSafe Victoria Compliance code / Removing asbestos in workplaces 17