Asbestos-related disease

Identify Asbestos Containing Materials

​Asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) in good condition are relatively safe if they remain undisturbed and undamaged.

​Options to identify asbestos are:

1. ​hiring a competent person to conduct a full asbestos assessment of the premises. They may take samples to confirm the presence of asbestos in certain products.​
2. identifying products that were manufactured or imported that are likely to contain asbestos.

Then for each product, either:

1. take a sample of the suspected asbestos and send it to a laboratory for testing, or
2. assume asbestos is present in those products and apply asbestos management controls

Creating an asbestos register

​An Asbestos Register is the foundation of the workplace’s asbestos management plan and should be provided to all workers and contractors so that they know where asbestos is located and can avoid disturbing or damaging it. It should include:​

1. the product name and location
2. the type of material (e.g., lagging, cloth, asbestos cement)
3. whether it is friable or non-friable
4. the condition of the material
5. The condition of the product is particularly important. Observations to note include:

• • ​is the surface of the material damaged, frayed or scratched?

• • are the surface sealants peeling, “feathering” or breaking off?

• • is any sprayed material or lagging separating from the pipe or surface?

• • are protective coverings missing or damaged?

• • is there asbestos dust or debris near the material?

Assess the Risk of Exposure

​Assessing the risk of exposure to asbestos fibres means understanding how likely it is for the fibers to be released and inhaled. The risk assessment takes three factors into consideration: the friability and type of material, the condition the product is currently in, and its disturbance potential.

Friability and type of material

​This factor ranks how friable the type of material is. As previously described, friable asbestos means asbestos that is loosely contained in materials that could easily be crushed by hand, and non-friable asbestos is where asbestos fibres are bound in firm material such as concrete or mastic.

​The type of material that binds asbestos fibres dictates the potential for airborne asbestos to be released into the air. For example, a loosely bound sprayed (or limpet) coating is more likely to release fibres when disturbed than asbestos cement in which fibres are firmly bound.

​​NOTE: All ACMs release asbestos fibres if they are disturbed, damaged or deteriorated.

Condition of the product

​The condition of asbestos containing materials indicates how friable the product is or may become (refer to Table 1).

If non-friable ACMs are in good condition and left undisturbed, fibres are unlikely to be released into the air and therefore the exposure risk is lower. However, if the asbestos or ACM has deteriorated, has been damaged, or if asbestos-contaminated dust is present, the likelihood of asbestos fibres becoming airborne is increased and so is the exposure risk.

​Disturbance potential

​This factor identifies all workplace activities, actions or conditions around ACMs that could disrupt the bonds that hold the asbestos fibres in place and how often these occur.

Using the factors to rate the likelihood of airborne asbestos fibres

​Referring to the friability, the condition and the disturbance potential, the following terms can be used to rate the likelihood of asbestos fibres being released for each identified ACM. (There are other risk rating tools and criteria available on the internet). The likelihood rating process is best done with a group of people to agree on the rating. Once the rating is agreed to, this can be noted in the Asbestos Register.

Risk Ranking

​The final step is to assess the overall risk of exposure to assist in deciding which controls are appropriate and how quickly they need to be applied. There are risk rating matrices available internationally to assist with ranking the risks using categories such as: extreme, high, medium, and low risk.