Asbestos can cause health effects if the fibres are breathed into the lungs.
To minimise the chance of anyone being exposed to asbestos, it is very important that DIY home renovators and tradespeople prevent the release of asbestos fibres into the air.
If you are not sure whether a material contains asbestos, presume that it does.
Download the film for general advice and safe work methods when conducting minor works on asbestos containing material in domestic buildings.
PETER: My name is Peter. I’m from Workplace Health and Safety Queensland. This presentation is about safety for you, your family and neighbours when working with asbestos containing material in and around your home.
If your house was built before 1990 there is a chance that asbestos containing materials may be somewhere within the house.
The asbestos containing materials may be found in the walls or the ceiling, in the roof, in the bathroom as the wet area backings, or indeed under old type lino.
If you are unsure if your building has asbestos containing material either assume it does or have a sample tested at a NATA accredited laboratory.
If you’re intending to perform work on asbestos containing materials there are a few things you need to consider. Firstly, what type of personal protective equipment will you use? For example, depending on the type of work you are doing you will need to wear a P2 type respirator, disposable overalls, shoe covers for your boots, and sometimes gloves.
Secondly, there is certain other equipment that you will need to use when performing the work on the asbestos containing material. For example:
- a plastic drop sheet so you can capture any dust or debris that falls from the work that you’re performing
- duct tape to seal any broken areas arising from the work that you’re doing
- plastic labelled bags to put asbestos containing material waste into
- a bucket to put water into and rags so you can wipe up any dust that’s caused from the work that you’re doing
- shaving cream that you can use when drilling into asbestos containing material.
A detailed list of other equipment can be found in the ‘Asbestos, A home renovator’s and tradesperson’s guide’.
In relation to the personal protective equipment that you use when performing the work on the asbestos containing material, you should first of all put your respirator on. Then put on your disposable overalls and the hood. And then put on your boot covers. If the sleeves of the disposable overalls are loose fitting, it is advisable that you use duct tape or similar to tape the sleeves to your arms.
Remove any unnecessary items from the work area. Use your plastic drop sheet to cover any items and to cover the floor surface or the ground surface. Erect barriers or close doors and windows to the area.
When drilling, cover the drill entry point with duct tape or similar. An extra precaution is to also apply a thickened substance, such as shaving cream, over the duct tape.
Drill a hole through the bottom of a disposable cup.
Fill or line the inside of the cup with a thickened substance, such as shaving cream.
Put the drill bit through the hole and make sure the drill bit extends through the end of the cup.
Align the drill bit with the marked point for the drilling entry. Ensure the cup is held firmly against the surface to be drilled.
Drill through the surface.
Remove the cup from the surface and dispose of it in the asbestos waste bag.
Use damp rags to clean off the paste and the debris from the wall, and the drill bit and drill.
If the edges of the drilled hole are to remain exposed it’s important to either seal the edges with a substance such as PVA glue or insert a sleeve.
Use damp rags to clean away any debris or dust from the surface of the drop sheet, ensuring that each surface of the rag is only used once. Then carefully roll the drop sheet from the ground and place it into the asbestos containing material waste bag.
When removing your personal protective equipment it’s essential that you remove the respirator last. Therefore, first of all, take off your boot covers and place them into the asbestos waste bag.
Next, remove your disposable overalls and place them into the asbestos waste bag.
Finally remove your respirator and also place that into the asbestos waste bag.
Seal all the disposable asbestos waste bags with duct tape and then place the bag into a second bag and again seal that bag with duct tape.
If you’re intending to cut a relatively large hole into bonded asbestos containing material there are a number of essential things you need to do.
It’s advisable to use a hand saw when doing the cutting.
The first thing to do, is to use a drill to make holes large enough to insert the hand saw.
To minimise dust during the hand sawing it’s important to wet down the surface of the work area.
This is best done using a spray bottle containing water and detergent.
During cutting ensure that you frequently spray the area being cut.
When you’ve finished cutting out the area, place the piece of asbestos containing material into the asbestos waste bag.
Next, use a substance like PVA glue and a paintbrush to seal any rough edges. When drilling the holes to attach the power outlet follow the safe procedures for drilling as outlined earlier. When the work is finished, clean up the area following the procedures as outlined earlier.
If you’re intending to install a new window or door into an asbestos containing material wall, it’s recommended that you remove the entire sheet rather than cutting the sheet. To remove the entire sheet it’s important that you minimise any breakage of the asbestos containing material. To do this there are a number of simple steps you can follow.
Using a hammer, a hole punch and a spray bottle containing water and detergent, punch around the nail that holds the sheet to the wall.
When all the nails have been punched from the sheet, you can then lift the sheet as one from the wall.
This sheet will need to be disposed of as asbestos contaminated waste.
It is important that the sheet is double-wrapped in plastic.
To dispose of the asbestos waste that is either double-bagged or double-wrapped, contact your local council for further advice.
If you are removing greater than ten square metres of bonded asbestos containing material you must either obtain a class B licence or engage a contractor that has a class B licence.
If you are preparing a surface to do painting for example, it’s important that you do not use any power tools or high pressure water to do this.
To safely prepare the surface of asbestos containing material you can use sandpaper and a spray bottle containing water and detergent.
While sanding the surface, spray the area with frequent large amounts of water from the spray bottle containing the water and detergent.
It is important to not use equipment such as water blasters, home vacuum cleaners, electric sanders or power tools.
For further information on working safely with asbestos containing materials, refer to the guide titled, ‘Asbestos, A home renovator’s and tradesperson’s guide for minor work in domestic buildings’.
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