Awareness

Domestic Asbestos Campaign

A campaign by asbestos advocacy groups and other community organisations to conduct Asbestos Audits and ensure safe Waste Removal in Domestic Premises.

The Domestic Asbestos Campaign Committee (DACC) is a group set up to advance the process of identification and safe handling of asbestos in Victorian homes. The DACC believes all residents have a right to protection from a dangerous product that exists in over 400,000 Victorian homes built before 1990.

The DACC’s campaign aims to have the identification and reporting of asbestos become a part of all significant housing transactions – at sale in the section 32 document, in building permits and in tenancy agreements. To achieve this, all householders must have access to low cost services to identify, remove and dispose of asbestos found in their homes. This is a significant public health issue that requires support from all levels of government.

Background

The DACC is made up of several not-for-profit asbestos support agencies including:

Asbestos Diseases Society of Victoria – ADSVIC
Asbestos Information Support Services - AISS
Asbestos Waste Management Professionals
Gippsland Asbestos Related Diseases Support - GARDS
Victorian Public Housing Association - VPHA
Victorian Trades Hall Council – VTHC

There is increasing community concern about the large amounts of asbestos remaining in the community in domestic dwellings and public buildings. The peak use of asbestos in Australia was 1983, when 700,000 tonnes was used – much of it in houses. Any house built before 1987 is likely to contain some asbestos. It is difficult to estimate the number of homes that contain asbestos in Victoria, but it could be as many as 400,000 households. This is a problem that should not fall on any one group, whether home owners or a particular tier of government. It is a collective social responsibility.

As suburbs undergo demographic change older housing stock is renovated. In this process there is a great potential for a new wave of asbestos related disease (primarily Mesothelioma, which can be triggered by only minimal exposure). While most of these cancers result from occupational exposure, advocacy groups all have members in their 40s and 50s who have been struck by mesothelioma, when the only known exposure was as a child or teenager.

Residents are not the only people at risk from domestic asbestos. The home is also a workplace for many people including building trades, electronics and telecommunications workers and cleaners. While non-friable (bound) asbestos is relatively safe if it is sealed and left undisturbed, the key issue is knowledge of its existence and an understanding of how to maintain it or remove it safely.

There is also the growing problem of unsafe removal and illegal dumping of material (either in council bins or private skips), which exposes a range of people to increased risk, including skip bin operators and council employees.

The DACC has represented to that the State Government that they implement legislation for the requirement of mandatory asbestos audits of all community buildings and homes at key trigger points (similar to the ACT legislation). That would include the sale of home/building, signing of tenancy agreements and application for building permits. The DACC also seeks an amendment to the Building Act to provide that asbestos audit and removal work to be carried out only by accredited assessors and removalists – trained to a nationally recognised standard.

The Victorian Local Governance Association (VLGA) has conducted a comprehensive survey of councils, which has shown that most councils do not have a designated waste transfer station for asbestos. Further, that there are reports of dangerous practices such as asbestos waste being dumped into green bins and general waste facilities without adequate safety measures being taken. This poses a threat to municipal workers.

In Victoria, asbestos is relatively well regulated in the workplace. There are requirements that an employer must audit the workplace, maintain an asbestos register and that any removal work must be done by licensed people. However, domestic premises have no similar effective regulation. The current regulatory regime is piecemeal – nuisance laws are the responsibility of the Department of Health, transport and disposal of asbestos are covered by the Environment Protection Authority and Waste Management Authority and the home as a workplace is covered by Worksafe.

In November 2007 the Environment Minister Gavin Jennings announced an extra $1 million over 4 years to be spent on providing transfer stations to handle the 40,000 tonnes of asbestos waste generated each year. This money was raised through the landfill levies collected by the EPA. This money will be contributed to the creation of repositories or waste transfer stations within each council.

The DACC believe an adequately resourced lead agency is required to provide a central focus on this issue, to provide coordination, training and leadership to other agencies and act as a hub for information and technical support. It has been estimated that up to 20,000 people will die of mesothelioma and more from asbestosis over the next 12 years.

Local government organisations can play a key role in the identification, removal and disposal of domestic asbestos. They have a close relationship with householders on many issues and are ideally placed to build some of these reporting and disposal mechanisms into existing practices.

Toward proper regulation of domestic asbestos and effective harm minimisation measures

Key Objectives

The ACT Government has provided other states a positive example with the Dangerous Substances Act 2004, the Asbestos Taskforce 2005 and further amendments to the Dangerous Substances legislation in 2005/6. While we would prefer Victoria to go further, the ACT has raised the bar for all states and territories by treating this issue seriously and comprehensively. They require homeowners to audit at particular trigger points (sale, tenancy, planning approval etc.), have implemented major awareness campaigns and require auditors to be properly trained and registered under building legislation.

Legislative

Legislation by 2009 to require full audit of asbestos in homes and community buildings (from 1 January 2010) at key points – planning approval, building permit, tenancy agreement or sale and that these audits be required to be lodged with the lead agency. Relevant legislation to be amended in each case.
Audit (including testing of suspect material) results to be included in a certificate that will be required to be attached to the planning application for planning or building approval, tenancy agreement or to form part of a S32 statement
Provision of visual inspection and preliminary report (without testing) be provided without cost through the lead agency where residents believe there is asbestos.
Legal duty on building owners to provide an audit statement or any other material concerning the presence of asbestos containing materials to tradespeople or others who might be exposed as a result of their activities in the domestic property
That the Building Act be amended to provide that asbestos audit and removal work must only be carried out (and reports must only be provided) by qualified and accredited assessors or removalists (trained to a standard that is nationally recognised). It will be illegal to use anyone other than a qualified person, registered with the appropriate licensing authority.

Administrative

An appropriate lead agency to be appointed to provide metro wide and key regional services.

Support for homeowners and harm minimisation

That the State Government fund the lead agency adequately (and in addition to their normal budget in the case of an exiting statutory body) to provide qualified information officers employed by the lead agency
That the State Government subsidise the cost of qualified and registered assessors/auditors
That through the lead agency and in cooperation with local government the State Government ensure that from 1 January 2010 local asbestos repositories are established where they do not already exist (at least 1 in each metro LGA and each key regional city LGA) and that these meet rigid safety standards in terms of physical containment of asbestos and training of local government or contract personnel. There may be some capacity to cost recover from small commercial operators who could also use the local repository. This may also involve a legislative requirement for councils to establish a repository as part of their waste transfer station facilities, with a State Government subsidy to cover part of the cost.
That the State Government through the MAV and VLGA or with private waste facility operators, negotiate and subsidise lower prices (similar to those established in the ACT) for disposal of asbestos from domestic premises (whether undertaken by home-owners or contact removalists) at waste sites approved to take asbestos materials
That the lead agency ensures that there are training materials and removal kits available for householders, through the agency offices and all councils at subsidised prices (similar to the City of LaTrobe example of $20 per kit and where the cost of the kit includes the tipping fee).
That the penalties for the illegal disposal of asbestos are increased significantly

Training

Development of nationally recognised and accredited training modules for assessors/auditors (using ACT training module as a guide) and, if necessary, Class ‘B’ (non friable) removalists (.15m)
That a new training module (with audio-visual material) for building trades apprentices be developed that covers the risks, removal and disposal of asbestos ($.35m)
Targeted training for builders, architects and designers ($.5m)

Community and Workforce Education

Resourcing of a major three year community education and awareness campaign, involving media campaigns, website etc. and including partnerships with major building, plumbing and hardware suppliers (including in-store material).

Working towards an end to asbestos illness through support, awareness and prevention

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