This week is National Asbestos Awareness Week (NAAW) - held from Monday 24 November to Sunday 30 November.
Since 31 December 2003 asbestos has been a banned substance in Australia. The ban includes the importation, use, and manufacture of all forms of asbestos, and marked a significant milestone in the effort to protect public health from the risks associated with asbestos exposure. Products that are manufactured in Australia after this time must not contain asbestos. However, imported products from certain countries may be inadvertently imported and still contain asbestos, due to differing regulatory environments.
On 31 December 2016 the Victorian Asbestos Eradication Agency (VAEA) was established to plan and prioritise the removal of asbestos from government-owned buildings in the state. The workplace asbestos registers of all government-owned buildings were consolidated, an evidence-based risk model was developed to assess asbestos hazards along with best practice materials and guidance, and the work continues to remove the identified asbestos.
Outside of government-owned buildings we know that there are still privately-owned sites with asbestos present, particularly in buildings built before 1990. The Victorian government Asbestos page offers tools to guide you through the process of finding and identifying asbestos around your home or workplace, and provides practical guidance on how to manage or remove it.
But homes and workplaces are not the only environments where asbestos may be found. It is important to understand the myriad of ways in which asbestos and asbestos containing materials have been used and where we might encounter them (you can find a list of pre-2003 asbestos-containing materials here). Asbestos can show up in brake pads and gaskets, in old railway sleepers, in old hair dryers and fire blankets, and over the past week we have seen it reported in children’s coloured and kinetic sand that had been imported between 2020-2023, well after the prohibition.
In another example of ‘unexpected asbestos’, wind farm companies Goldwind Australia, Vestas and Beijing Energy International are being investigated after imported brake pads for wind farm tower lifts were found to contain asbestos.
“The situation is beyond belief. Despite importing asbestos being banned for more than 20 years, these companies have flouted the ban and put workers at risk of serious disease illness, cancer and death by bringing these dodgy components here,” CFMEU national secretary Zach Smith said.
Regardless of where or in what form asbestos is encountered it is important to be aware of the correct procedure for removal and disposal of the product. WorkSafe offers a checklist of duties and responsibilities when removing asbestos, as well as the Compliance Code: Removing asbestos in the workplace. For asbestos identified outside of the workplace the Victorian government Asbestos site offers advice on how to contain the hazard and find a licensed asbestos removalist to assist you.
Read more: Aust Gov | Recall of coloured sands – November 2025
AMWU - ASBESTOS ALERT: Imported Wind Towers Putting Workers at Risk