Asbestos in or on Grounds Guide

The purpose of this guide is to clearly outline the NSW Department of Education’s approach to managing asbestos or ACM in or on grounds, to ensure the health and safety of all occupants of schools.

This guide is intended to be read by NSW Department of Education workers, their health and safety representatives, and other people working with or around asbestos or ACM at NSW Department of Education facilities, as well as external hygienists engaged to provide advice on NSW Department of Education workplaces.

This guide applies to asbestos or ACM in or on grounds surfaces as identified through proactive inspections or reactive unexpected finds during normal site occupation. This guide outlines the steps to be taken to return the school to regular operations. There may be different requirements in other scenarios, such as during projects that involve excavation or planning approvals. In these instances, a panel hygienist (SINSW1340-20) should be engaged to provide specific advice. Note also that this guide does not include management of naturally occurring asbestos.

Asbestos poses a risk to human health when elevated levels of asbestos fibres are breathed in. The likelihood that asbestos fibres are airborne, and therefore able to be inhaled, depends on:

• whether the material is friable or non-friable;
• whether the material is covered or contained, for example with topsoil, grass, hardstand; and
• any operational control measures, such as isolation or preventing digging in an area.

In accordance with the WHS Regulation, grounds are not considered to be asbestos impacted if a competent person (such as a hygienist) determines it not to contain any visible ACM, or if visible friable asbestos is no more than trace levels as determined in accordance with AS 4964:2004. In line with this approach, ground surfaces are to be assessed on a visual basis first to determine if visible asbestos is present. If no visible asbestos is present, laboratory analysis is not required.

If visible ACM or asbestos is identified, the friability of the material must be determined by a competent person such as a panel hygienist. Any ACM or asbestos which is in a powder form or that can be crumbled, pulverised or reduced to a powder by hand pressure when dry must be classified as friable. This classification is to be made by the competent person based on their in-person assessment of the material. Soil sampling for the detection of asbestos fibres released from fragments of non-friable asbestos is not required in these circumstances, and laboratory reports are not necessary to classify materials as friable or non-friable. Fibre cement or ‘fibro’ will generally be non-friable ACM unless severely degraded. Fire-damaged ACM will generally be friable. These types of ACM will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Where friable asbestos or ACM makes up <10% of total asbestos or ACM it will be treated as non-friable.

If friable asbestos or ACM is detected, air monitoring is to be performed in addition to isolating the area and following the unexpected find process (if relevant) in the Asbestos Incident Management Procedure.

The extent of the presence of asbestos or ACM needs to be understood in order to determine the total quantity of asbestos or ACM to be removed. In particular, for non-friable ACM the panel hygienist must advise whether the total quantity of asbestos or ACM is less than 10m² or more than 10m².

Quantitative asbestos in soil assessments will only be required where friable asbestos has been identified. Such assessments should be performed in accordance with the NEPM criteria and other relevant NSW EPA guidelines.

Under Section 60 of the Contaminated Land Management Act, the NSW Department of Education has a duty to report soil contamination if it exceeds specified levels in NEPM and people have been, or foreseeably will be, exposed to the contaminant (asbestos). In practice, this means that the NSW Department of Education must notify the NSW EPA if both:

• friable asbestos is present in an individual sample at levels equal to or exceeding 0.001%; and
• air monitoring indicates elevated asbestos fibres (greater than or equal to 0.01 fibres/mL) in an occupied area.

Non-friable ACM or naturally occurring asbestos do not require notification.

Once a school or workplace has been reported to the NSW EPA, the NSW EPA will assess whether the site should be declared to be significantly contaminated under the Contaminated Land Management Act. The NSW EPA may subsequently:

• order the NSW Department of Education to undertake further investigation of the site;
• order the NSW Department of Education to take management actions;
• approve a voluntary proposal put forward by the NSW Department of Education;
• impose a restriction on the use of land; and/or
• issue a clean-up notice for the site.

Note: School sites or other workplaces which are declared to be significantly contaminated will be managed on a case-by-case basis with advice from the hygienist and direction from the NSW EPA. In such cases, the NSW EPA will have regulatory authority over the site.

In the event that non-friable asbestos or ACM is identified on grounds, the following steps should be followed:

• the area should be isolated with tape, temporary fencing or other measures to prevent accidental disturbance of the material;
• the material on the soil surface should be removed as soon as possible by hand-picking with controls as set out in the WHS Act and the WHS Regulation;
• on completion, the hygienist should issue a clearance certificate indicating that no visible asbestos or ACM fragments are present on the surface of the soil; and
• the occurrence and the removal are to be recorded in OART.

In the event that friable asbestos or ACM is identified on soil surfaces, the following steps should be followed:

• the area should be isolated with tape, temporary fencing or other measures to prevent accidental disturbance of the material;
• the soil should be kept damp and/or covered to prevent fibres and dust from becoming airborne;
• a panel hygienist should be engaged to perform asbestos fibre air monitoring in the area and to perform a quantitative asbestos in soil assessment;
• the panel hygienist should provide the NSW Department of Education with advice regarding whether there is a duty to report the site to the NSW EPA based on the results of the asbestos fibre air monitoring and the quantitative asbestos in soil assessment;
• if there is no duty to report to the NSW EPA, the panel hygienist should provide advice to the NSW Department of Education regarding options for remediation, which may include removing the friable asbestos or ACM or containing the friable asbestos or ACM below a warning geotextile layer and clean fill. Remediation options which minimise soil disturbance, and therefore public risk, are preferred.
• if there is a duty to report to the NSW EPA, remediation options will be discussed and decided in consultation with the NSW EPA
• the occurrence and the removal (where relevant) are to be recorded in OART.

Where the cause of contamination is illegal dumping, the process in the Asbestos Incident Management Procedure should be followed.

Removing asbestos or ACM from grounds, whether friable or non-friable, removes the need for long term management of the asbestos or ACM. Where asbestos or ACM is known to be present in soils, for example under a marker layer of geotextile and clean soil or in a containment cell, long term management is required. Long term management will constitute the same processes and controls which are in place for asbestos or ACM in-situ in buildings. The panel hygienist providing advice regarding containing the asbestos or ACM is to also recommend a frequency for inspecting the long-term management controls. This is to be a risk-based decision taking into consideration all relevant factors (with re-inspection to occur at least every 5 years) which is conditional on the strength of the controls in place. Known asbestos or ACM with very strong controls (for example capped under hardstand) may be inspected by a competent person every 5 years. Known ACM with less strong controls (for example covered with fill in an erosion-prone area) may require re-inspection on a 3-monthly basis. These are simply examples and re-inspection must be determined on a case-by-case basis.

The following factors are to be considered when determining a suitable frequency for reinspection:

• friability;
• strength of control measures;
• quantity of asbestos;
• time since most recent find; and
• frequency that the area is used.

The following table provides guidance around inspection frequencies for asbestos or ACM in or on soil. The panel hygienist is to use the following table to determine whether the majority of factors are low, medium or high risk. If the majority of factors are low risk, the hygienist is to recommend a reinspection frequency of 5 years; if medium risk, 1 year; and if high risk, 3 months. A hygienist may provide a recommendation which does not align with the following table at their discretion. In such cases, a full justification of their reasoning must be provided.