Global Asbestos Audits’ Melbourne team services commercial property owners, landlords, property managers, and developers throughout Greater Melbourne and across Victoria. Whether your premises are in the CBD, the inner suburbs, Melbourne’s outer metropolitan ring, or in regional Victoria, our network of qualified consultants, inspectors, and assessors is ready to help you identify, manage, and document asbestos risk at your property.
About Global Asbestos Audits Melbourne
Melbourne is one of Australia’s largest and most commercially active cities, and it carries with it a long industrial and manufacturing history. That history also means Melbourne has a significant proportion of older commercial buildings, many of them constructed during the decades when asbestos was in widespread use across the construction and manufacturing industries. Global Asbestos Audits works with Melbourne-based property owners and managers to assess, document, and manage asbestos risk in accordance with the legislative requirements that apply in Victoria.
Initial enquiries are always welcome by phone or email. We are happy to discuss your situation and provide guidance before any site visit is required. Because every property is unique, however, our consultants typically conduct an on-site consultation to properly scope your premises, gain a thorough understanding of the building’s history, and tailor their recommendations accordingly.
Australia’s nationwide ban on the importation, manufacture, and use of asbestos was phased in from the 1980s and took full effect on 31 December 2003. Prior to that date, asbestos was used extensively across the construction and manufacturing industries in products including plasterboard, fibro cement sheeting, insulation, roofing and guttering materials, floor tiles, pipe lagging, electrical boards, and fire-retardant linings. Given Melbourne’s volume of commercial buildings constructed before 2003, and the city’s deep ties to manufacturing and heavy industry throughout the twentieth century, asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) remain a significant legacy concern across a large proportion of Victoria’s existing commercial building stock.
Our Melbourne team regularly attends sites prior to demolition or major renovation to assess asbestos risk and confirm the presence or absence of ACMs. From there, we coordinate testing, remediation, and removal, and once ACMs have been cleared, we issue the necessary clearance certificates. Throughout the entire process, everything is thoroughly documented through our asbestos reports and asbestos registers in accordance with Victorian legal requirements.
We are also seeing an increasing incidence of asbestos contamination arising from contaminated fill material and from imported products originating in countries where asbestos regulation is less stringent. Global Asbestos Audits can help you identify and quantify your exposure risk. With the health consequences of asbestos exposure now well understood, a ‘wait and see’ approach is no longer viable. Left unmanaged, asbestos risk can expose workers and tenants to serious health hazards while creating significant legal liability for property owners and landlords.
Services Provided Through Our Melbourne Team
Global Asbestos Audits provides a comprehensive range of services to help commercial property owners, landlords, and property managers in Melbourne and across Victoria meet their legal obligations. Services available through our Melbourne team include:
- Division 5 asbestos audits (visual inspection)
- Division 6 asbestos audits (more intrusive inspection)
- Asbestos inspections and asbestos testing
- Asbestos reports
- Compilation of asbestos registers
- Asbestos management plans
- Asbestos air testing and clearance certificates
- Pre-demolition asbestos assessments and ACM identification
- Remediation and removal coordination
- Ongoing asbestos management
- Silica air testing, monitoring, and management
Our team draws on years of practical experience and a thorough understanding of the legal requirements in each Australian state and territory to provide recommendations on how best to manage any asbestos exposure identified at your property.
Legislative Considerations for Asbestos Management in Victoria
Asbestos management in Victoria is governed by a distinct state legislative framework that differs from the harmonised Work Health and Safety framework adopted by most other Australian states and territories. Victoria retains its own occupational health and safety legislation, administered by WorkSafe Victoria, alongside separate environmental legislation administered by the Environment Protection Authority Victoria (EPA Victoria). The primary legislation affecting commercial property owners and landlords includes:
• Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) (OHS Act) and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Vic) (OHS Regulations): Victoria’s primary workplace health and safety legislation. Part 4.4 of the OHS Regulations deals specifically with asbestos in workplaces, setting out duties for employers, persons with management or control of a workplace, and self-employed persons with respect to the identification, assessment, and management of asbestos.
- Compliance Code: Managing Asbestos in Workplaces (WorkSafe Victoria, 2018): provides practical guidance on how to comply with the duties and obligations set out in the OHS Act and OHS Regulations in relation to asbestos management. Compliance with this code is one way of demonstrating compliance with the relevant regulatory requirements.
• Compliance Code: Removing Asbestos in Workplaces (WorkSafe Victoria, 2018): provides practical guidance on meeting legal obligations in relation to the removal of asbestos from workplaces, including requirements for licensed removalists and those who commission removal work.
• Dangerous Goods Act 1985 (Vic): Part VIA of this Act contains specific duties for persons with management or control of a property where asbestos installed on or after 1 January 2004 is found, including obligations to notify WorkSafe Victoria and to either remove the asbestos or put in place a WorkSafe-approved management plan.
• Environment Protection Act 2017 (Vic) and the Environment Protection Regulations 2021 (Vic): administered by EPA Victoria, this legislation governs the disposal and transport of asbestos waste from commercial and industrial sources. Asbestos waste from industrial or commercial activities is classified as Reportable Priority Waste under the Regulations and is subject to strict transport, tracking, and disposal requirements.
Key obligations for Victorian commercial property owners and managers include:
• Maintaining an asbestos register for any workplace building: commercial buildings constructed before 1 January 1990 must have an asbestos register identifying the location and condition of any asbestos or ACMs present, unless asbestos has been confirmed as absent. The register must be accessible to workers and kept up to date.
- Preparing and maintaining an asbestos management plan where asbestos or ACMs have been identified at a workplace, setting out Preparing and maintaining an asbestos management plan where asbestos or ACMs have been identified at a workplace, setting out
• Notifying WorkSafe Victoria as soon as practicable if asbestos installed on or after 1 January 2004 is discovered at a property, and entering into an agreement with WorkSafe to either remove or manage the asbestos within the required timeframe.
• Ensuring that WorkSafe-licensed asbestos removalists carry out any removal work that exceeds the threshold for limited unlicensed removal, and that clearance certificates are obtained upon completion.
• Ensuring that asbestos waste from commercial activities is managed, transported, and disposed of in accordance with EPA Victoria’s requirements for Reportable Priority Waste, including the use of EPA’s Waste Tracker system.
Important: WorkSafe Victoria conducts regular compliance inspections targeting workplaces in buildings constructed before 1990. Non-compliance with asbestos register and management plan requirements can result in improvement notices, prohibition notices, on-the-spot fines, and other enforcement action. Ensuring your asbestos register and management plan are current and accurate is not optional: it is a legal requirement.
What Is the First Step If You Suspect Your Property Contains Asbestos?
Stop! Don’t disturb it!
If you suspect asbestos-containing materials may be present at your property, the single most important thing you can do is leave those materials undisturbed. Drilling, cutting, sanding, or otherwise damaging ACMs can release asbestos fibres into the air, creating an immediate and serious health hazard for anyone in the vicinity.
Once you have made the area safe, give us a call or email us with a brief description of your situation, and we can work out the rest from there. Sending through some photos is also very helpful and allows us to provide a more accurate initial assessment before attending the site.
Phone: 1800 635 977
Email: [email protected]
We Have Locations, Consultants, Assessors, and Contractors Right Across Australia
While our national coordination is managed from Brisbane, Global Asbestos Audits operates throughout Australia. Our network of qualified consultants, inspectors, assessors, and contractors is active in capital cities including Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, and Perth, as well as in older manufacturing precincts and regional areas right across the country.
No matter where your property is located, we can connect you with the right expertise. Our national reach means you receive consistent, high-quality service and advice aligned with the specific legislative requirements of your state or territory.
Contact our Melbourne team today to discuss your requirements, and we will make sure the right people are on the case.