Asbestos Removal Licensing in Tasmania for Residential Builders

What it is

Tasmania is a harmonised work health and safety jurisdiction. Asbestos work sits in Chapter 8 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022 (Tas), made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 (Tas). WorkSafe Tasmania is the regulator and the licensing authority.

The 2022 regulations replaced the 2012 set on 12 December 2022. The asbestos provisions carried across with the model wording intact, so the licence classes line up with QLD, NSW, SA, WA, NT and the ACT. WorkSafe Tasmania recognises a current interstate asbestos removal or assessor licence used within its terms.

For a Tasmanian residential builder three authorisations matter: the Class A asbestos removal licence, the Class B asbestos removal licence, and the asbestos assessor licence held by whoever signs off the clearance on friable work.

Class A and Class B licences

Regulation 485 requires a Class A asbestos removal licence to remove friable asbestos and any asbestos contaminated dust or debris. Friable means the material is a powder, or can be crumbled or reduced to powder by hand pressure when dry. Pipe lagging, sprayed insulation and badly degraded sheeting are the usual friable finds in older Tasmanian housing.

Regulation 487 requires a Class B licence to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos or asbestos containing material, plus any dust or debris tied to that removal. Non-friable means bonded material: asbestos cement sheet, corrugated roofing, eaves lining, vinyl backing. A Class A licence covers Class B work. A Class B licence never covers friable work.

When no licence is required

Ten square metres or less of non-friable asbestos can be removed without a licence. That is the entire exemption. It is not a daily allowance, not a per worker allowance and not a per invoice allowance. It measures the cumulative area of bonded material removed at that workplace, so a full-house strip-out clears it fast.

Unlicensed removal still carries the general duty. The builder is a PCBU, the work is done in the conduct of a business, and every control in the WorkSafe Tasmania code of practice still applies: wetting down, no power tools, respiratory protection, sealed and labelled waste, disposal at an approved site.

Notification, air monitoring and clearance

Regulation 466 requires the licensed removalist to give WorkSafe Tasmania written notice at least 5 days before licensed removal work starts. The maximum fine for missing that notice is $3,600 for an individual and $18,000 for a body corporate. Work may start immediately in a genuine emergency, but the removalist has to phone the regulator and put it in writing within 24 hours.

Regulation 475 requires an independent licensed asbestos assessor to carry out air monitoring on Class A work, using the membrane filter method, immediately before the job starts and while it runs. On residential premises the removalist carries that duty directly.

Regulation 473 requires a clearance inspection once licensed removal is finished. Class A work needs an independent licensed asbestos assessor. Class B work can use an independent competent person. Regulation 474 requires a written clearance certificate before anyone re-occupies the area, and where air monitoring formed part of the inspection the result has to sit below 0.01 fibres per millilitre.

Register, management plan and awareness training

Regulation 425 puts an asbestos register on the person with management or control of a workplace. It applies to buildings whenever constructed. The only carve-out is a building put up after 31 December 2003 where no asbestos has been identified and none is likely. Regulation 429 adds an asbestos management plan wherever asbestos is identified or assumed.

A private home is not a workplace, so a single dwelling carries no standing register duty. Strata common property, a unit block or a mixed use building does. Ask the body corporate for the register before a tool leaves the ute.

Regulation 445 requires the builder to train any worker who might be involved in asbestos removal or asbestos related work. Training records have to be kept while the worker does the work and for 5 years after they stop.

What good looks like on a Tasmanian job

• Independent asbestos survey before any pre-1990 strip-out or demolition
• Class B licensee engaged the moment bonded sheeting passes 10 square metres
• Class A licensee for anything friable, including lagging and degraded sheet
• WorkSafe Tasmania notice lodged 5 days out, with the assessor named on it
• Clearance certificate on file before trades go back in
• Disposal dockets from an approved waste facility kept with the job file