Melbourne is full of older commercial buildings. Brick warehouses in Collingwood and Richmond. Shopfronts along Sydney Road and Chapel Street. Factories out in Dandenong, Sunshine and Laverton. CBD office floors that have been stripped and refitted more times than anyone remembers.
A lot of them went up before asbestos was banned at the end of 2003.
If you own, lease or manage one of these buildings, the time to think about asbestos is before the next fitout. Halfway through is too late.
Here’s what matters when you’re planning commercial asbestos removal Melbourne work.
Where asbestos turns up in Melbourne commercial buildings
Usually somewhere nobody’s looked in years. The usual suspects are:
- Ceiling tiles and old vinyl floor tiles
- Fibro cement sheeting on walls, eaves and partitions
- Corrugated roofs on older warehouses and factory sheds
- Switchboards, pipe lagging and boiler insulation
- Fire doors and old firewall linings
In good condition and left alone, most of it is stable. The trouble starts when someone cuts, drills or sands it. A sparky running new data cable through the ceiling. A shopfitter pulling down an old partition. A summer hailstorm punching holes in a fibro roof.
The rules are different in Victoria
This one catches people out.
Most states run under Work Health and Safety (WHS) laws. Victoria doesn’t. Here, asbestos at work falls under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the OHS Regulations 2017, and WorkSafe Victoria enforces them. Transport and disposal sit with EPA Victoria.
If your building was constructed before 31 December 2003, whoever manages or controls the workplace generally has to:
- Identify asbestos, or assume it’s there if it might be
- Keep an asbestos register and make it available to the people who need it
- Review the register when work is planned or conditions change
- Make sure a licensed removalist does the job when a license is required
In other words, it isn’t only your contractor’s problem. Some of the duty sits with you.
Licences: Class A or Class B?
Not every asbestos removal Melbourne job calls for the same license.
Friable asbestos, the crumbly kind, can only be removed by a Class A license holder. Bonded (non friable) asbestos over 10 square metres needs at least a Class B license.
A licensed removalist has to notify WorkSafe Victoria before starting. Once the work is done, an independent competent person carries out a clearance inspection, and a clearance certificate is issued before anyone uses the area again.
Ask to see the license. A legitimate removalist won’t mind.
Why commercial jobs are harder
A house renovation affects one household. A commercial building might have staff, tenants, customers and tradies walking through it every day.
So, the planning looks different.
Fibres don’t stay put. They can travel through ceiling cavities and get drawn into the air conditioning ducts. Access is often awkward, too, with high ceilings, roof spaces and tight plant rooms. And in most cases the business still has to open its doors in the morning.
A good removalist plans around that. They’ll fence off the work zone with barriers and signs, and put up sealed enclosures with negative air units on friable jobs. Air monitoring checks that fiber levels outside the zone stay safe. Bigger jobs can be staged floor by floor, or done at night and over weekends, so the rest of the building keeps running.
Disposal in Victoria
Getting it out of the building is only half the job.
Asbestos waste has to be wrapped, sealed, labelled and transported in line with EPA Victoria requirements, then taken to a facility licensed to accept it.
Commercial jobs can produce a lot of it. Make sure your removalist handles disposal properly and hands over the paperwork. You’ll want those records later.
Don’t let it derail the project
Most commercial asbestos headaches come down to timing.
Picture it. The builder opens a ceiling, finds suspect sheeting and downs tools. The fitout stops. The incoming tenant is waiting. Costs keep climbing.
Most of that is avoidable. Check the asbestos register before the work is even scoped. If parts of the building have never been assessed, get a pre refurbishment inspection. Bring the removalist in early so asbestos is in the program from day one, and leave room in the schedule for clearance.
Choosing a removalist in Melbourne
When you’re comparing quotes for commercial asbestos removal Melbourne jobs, don’t just pick the cheapest. Check that the company:
- Holds the right license class from WorkSafe Victoria
- Has done commercial jobs like yours
- Gives you a written asbestos removal control plan
- Arranges air monitoring and clearance where required
- Uses an EPA licensed facility and gives you the disposal records
- Carries appropriate insurance
- Can work around your trading hours
Then ask how they’ll protect your staff and tenants while they’re on site. You’ll learn a lot from how quickly they answer.
Never cut corners
It’s tempting to get the maintenance team to pull out “just a few sheets.”
Don’t.
Asbestos related diseases, including mesothelioma and asbestosis, can take decades to appear. Unlicensed removal can also contaminate ceiling spaces and air conditioning systems, and cleaning those up can cost far more than doing the job properly in the first place.
Building older than 2004? Work coming up? Start with the asbestos register, then talk to a licensed specialist in asbestos removal Melbourne businesses can rely on. Before anyone picks up a drill.
