Asbestos Compliance for Strata

Why asbestos still matters

If your building was constructed before 2004, it almost certainly contains asbestos somewhere. The walk-ups built across the North Shore between the 1960s and 1990s used asbestos-containing materials extensively — eaves and soffits, fibro cladding, fire-rated panels in switchboard cupboards, vinyl floor tiles and their backing, pipe lagging, roof sheeting, and the flat sheet behind wet areas.

Asbestos that is in good condition and left undisturbed is generally not a health risk. The danger arises when fibres become airborne — during drilling, cutting, sanding, water damage, storm damage, or renovation. That is why the law focuses less on removing asbestos and more on knowing where it is and managing it so that nobody disturbs it unknowingly.

The hard part for committees is that the obligation doesn't come from strata law at all. It comes from work health and safety law — and it catches buildings that most owners would never think of as a "workplace."

Your common property is a "workplace"

This is the point most committees miss. Under NSW work health and safety law, common property in a strata scheme is treated as a workplace whenever people carry out work there — cleaners, gardeners, the plumber, the electrician, a contractor fixing the roof. It doesn't matter that nobody is employed by the Owners Corporation. The moment a contractor works on common property, WHS duties apply.

That makes the Owners Corporation a "person conducting a business or undertaking" (a PCBU) for that work, with the same asbestos duties as any other workplace operator. In practice almost every scheme engages cleaners, gardeners or trades, so this duty applies to the great majority of buildings - though a purely residential scheme that engages no one for its common areas may fall outside it. These duties have applied since the Work Health and Safety Act commenced on 1 January 2012.

In practice it means a pre-2004 building with common property must have two documents in place: an asbestos register and an asbestos management plan.

The asbestos register

Under clause 425 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW), the person with management or control of a workplace must ensure an asbestos register is prepared and kept on site. For a strata scheme, that responsibility sits with the Owners Corporation.

The register is a written record, prepared by a competent person after an inspection of the building, that lists all identified or assumed asbestos in the common property. For each item it records:

• the date the asbestos was identified
• its location
• its type, and whether it is friable (easily crumbled) or non-friable (bonded)
• its condition.

A register is not required only where the building was constructed after 31 December 2003, no asbestos has been identified, and none is likely to be present. Practically, that means almost every older strata block on the North Shore needs one. Because asbestos was not fully banned in Australia until 31 December 2003, any building from before 2004 is assumed to contain asbestos until a survey proves otherwise.

The register must be kept up to date, and it must be handed over if management or control of the building changes — for example, when a new strata manager or building manager takes over.

The asbestos management plan

Where asbestos has been identified, clause 429 requires the Owners Corporation to have a written asbestos management plan as well. The register says where the asbestos is; the management plan says what will be done about it.

A compliant plan sets out the location of the asbestos, the decisions made about managing it and why, safe work procedures and control measures, and the procedures to follow in an incident or emergency — including who is responsible. It also records the work that has been done over time, so the next contractor on site can see what was disturbed, when, and how it was handled.

Both documents need to be readily accessible to anyone about to work on the building. The common approach in strata is to keep the register and management plan in a compliance or essential-services document box on the common property, fitted with a standard "003" key that most contractors carry. That way a contractor can check the register and follow the plan before starting work, without needing a committee member on site to let them in.

Reviewing every five years

An asbestos register and management plan are not "set and forget." Under clause 430, the plan must be reviewed — and revised if necessary — at least once every five years. It must also be reviewed earlier whenever:

• the asbestos register or a control measure is reviewed
• asbestos is removed, disturbed, sealed, or enclosed
• the plan is no longer adequate for managing the asbestos, or
• a health and safety representative reasonably requests it.

In other words, any time the asbestos is touched — or the building changes in a way that affects it — the documents need to be updated, not just refreshed on the five-year clock.

Removal and treatment

A common misconception is that asbestos must be removed. In most cases it doesn't — and shouldn't. Asbestos that is intact, sealed, and in good condition is usually safest left in place and managed through the register and plan. Removal disturbs fibres and is often the higher-risk option. Removal generally becomes necessary when the material is damaged, deteriorating, or in the way of planned works.

When asbestos does need to come out, NSW law is strict about who can do it:

• A Class B licensed removalist is required to remove more than 10 square metres of non-friable (bonded) asbestos — the flat-sheet and cladding type found in most older units.
• A Class A licensed removalist is required to remove any amount of friable asbestos (the loose, crumbly, higher-risk type such as some pipe lagging and insulation), and can also remove non-friable asbestos.
• Only very small jobs — 10 square metres or less of non-friable asbestos — can lawfully be done without a licence, and even then only with the correct safety controls - and that 10 square metre limit is cumulative over any 7-day period, so a job cannot be split to stay under it. For a strata committee, the safe default is to use a licensed removalist regardless of size.

Several further requirements protect everyone on site:

• The removalist must notify SafeWork NSW at least five calendar days before starting any friable removal or any non-friable removal over 10 square metres.
• For friable asbestos, an independent licensed asbestos assessor must carry out air monitoring and issue a clearance certificate before the area can be reoccupied.
• All asbestos waste must be disposed of at a licensed waste facility — never in general waste or skip bins.

For the committee, the practical rule is simple: engage appropriately licensed contractors, ask to see the licence and (for friable work) the clearance certificate, and make sure the register and management plan are updated to reflect what was removed.

How this connects to your other obligations

Asbestos management doesn't sit on its own — it overlaps with the maintenance duty every Owners Corporation already carries. Under Section 106 of the Strata Schemes Management Act 2015, the OC must keep common property in a good and serviceable state of repair. Water damage, spalling concrete, and roof leaks don't just breach Section 106; they can also disturb or expose asbestos and turn a managed, low-risk material into an airborne hazard.

A building that is inspected regularly and maintained properly tends to keep its asbestos stable and its register current. The buildings that get caught out are the ones where deferred maintenance lets a material deteriorate — and where nobody has looked at the asbestos register in years.

What your committee should do

Staying compliant is mostly about having the right documents and keeping them live:

• If your building predates 2004 and you don't have an asbestos register and management plan, arrange an inspection by a competent person and have both prepared.
• Keep the register and plan accessible on site — a compliance document box is the usual solution — so any contractor can check them before starting work.
• Give every contractor, cleaner, and tradesperson access to the register before they begin, and make checking it a condition of working on the building.
• Review the documents at least every five years, and immediately whenever asbestos is disturbed, removed, or damaged.
• Use only appropriately licensed removalists, insist on a clearance certificate for friable work, and confirm waste goes to a licensed facility.
• Update the register and management plan after any work that touches asbestos.

The failures that cause problems are rarely dramatic. They're usually a missing register, a plan that hasn't been reviewed in a decade, or a contractor who drilled into a wall nobody warned them about. Good record-keeping is the cheapest and most effective protection a committee has.

Disclaimer: This guide provides general information about asbestos obligations for NSW strata buildings under work health and safety law. It is not legal advice. For specific compliance questions, consult a licensed asbestos professional or strata lawyer.