Audience
Department-wide
Purpose
This procedure outlines the roles, responsibilities and processes for the management of asbestos-containing building material associated with or brought onto Department of Education (the department) owned facilities.
Overview
The department is committed to ensuring that asbestos is managed in accordance with work health and safety legislation, which is aimed at ensuring asbestos does not present a risk to a person’s health. This commitment is achieved by imposing requirements on a range of parties to, among other things:
- control access to work areas that may contain asbestos
- provide relevant information about the presence of asbestos to people carrying out work on departmental facilities
- ensure the presence and management of asbestos is considered in all stages of project management
- manage incidents that involve assumed or confirmed asbestos containing materials (ACMs)
- participate in training about asbestos
- ensure that the condition of in-situ assumed and confirmed ACM is monitored
- monitor the application and effectiveness of the department’s procedures.
This procedure addresses the processes for the establishment of a site-specific asbestos management plan, management of in-situ asbestos, management of works on asbestos facilities, asbestos training, monitoring asbestos management compliance, managing asbestos-related Work Health and Safety (WHS) Regulator interactions and managing asbestos-related records.
This procedure supports the Asbestos management plan for Department of Education facilities and should be read in conjunction with the:
The procedure identifies a range of roles that have responsibilities for managing asbestos, including ‘persons responsible for planning work’, ‘persons responsible for procuring service providers’, 'persons responsible for procuring a contracted project manager', ‘persons responsible for a project manager contract’ and ‘person responsible for service provider contracts’. These titles are used in recognition that departmental projects are of varying scales and provided under varying delivery models. The type of delivery model applicable for the projects will dictate who assumes these roles. Consequently, a person, such as a school principal, may have multiple responsibilities under this procedure depending on works being undertaken.
Responsibilities
All employees
- participate in asbestos training where required
- only provide work area access to service providers if the access has been authorised by the Officer in charge (OIC) or an Officer in charge delegate (OIC delegate)
- not touch or disturb deteriorated material suspected to be ACM
- report all issues with the condition of ACM, asbestos registers and asbestos warning signage at department owned housing and other facilities
- refer to the relevant asbestos register content for the facility prior to the commencement of any construction or maintenance related work on the facility
- not conduct work on ACM, regardless of whether a work area access permit (WAAP) is held
- not provide departmental equipment to service providers for their use during works
- not carry out make-safe activities for assumed or confirmed ACM
- ensure asbestos management records are retained in line with the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule
- ensure compliance with the departmental approach for asbestos management during the execution of work.
Officer in charge
The OIC is the accountable officer for asbestos management at a facility and consequently responsible for ensuring all responsibilities are implemented. Some of the responsibilities:
- must be exercised only by the OIC (these responsibilities are not delegable and will generally be expressed in the procedure as something the OIC ‘must’ do, for example, “the OIC must give XYZ to a person”)
- may be carried out by departmental employees who have received formal delegation and completed the associated training to exercise the responsibility (these responsibilities will generally be expressed in the procedure as something the OIC or an OIC delegate must do, for example, “the OIC or OIC delegate must give XYZ to a person”)
- may be carried out in accordance with instructions and systems, approved by the OIC, to support the responsibility being met (these will generally be expressed in the procedure as something the OIC must ‘ensure’ is done, for example, “the OIC must ensure XYX is installed”.
Delegation eligibility and delegable OIC responsibilities are outlined in the Asbestos management, asbestos incident, and work area access permit delegations process (including the responsibilities that can be exercised by a delegate).
- ensure a site-specific asbestos management plan (AMP) is prepared and maintained for an ACM site
- establish formal delegations for asbestos management activities
- ensure access to the facility asbestos register is provided to employees, service providers and other visitors (as required)
- ensure asbestos warning signage is installed at an ACM site
- ensure suitable responses for reports of issues with the condition of ACM, asbestos registers and asbestos warning signage
- ensure programs in place to monitor condition of ACM are supported through the coordination of onsite audits and provision of relevant information regarding the facility
- ensure ACM make-safes are managed in line with this procedure
- ensure school community is kept up to date with information about works that may impact them
- ensure the Work area access permit procedure is applied
- ensure certificates associated with changes to facilities resulting from asbestos work are uploaded to the Built Environment Materials Information Register (BEMIR)
- participate in required asbestos training and ensure employees receive required asbestos training
- ensure facility asbestos management assurance activities are conducted
- ensure asbestos-related enforcement notices issued to the department are managed in accordance with this procedure
- ensure mechanisms are in place to support employee application of asbestos record and retention requirements.
Person responsible for planning work
- ensure the department’s asbestos labelling requirements are applied where relevant
- ensure suitable consideration of asbestos removal during project planning
- ensure steps are taken to identify if ACMs are likely to be disturbed during maintenance work, including sampling as necessary
- ensure strategies are implemented to prevent exposure to asbestos from simultaneous operations during asbestos work
- ensure departmental asbestos-related operational policies are applied during planning of project and maintenance works
- ensure works planning considers departmental limitations on service provider selection for asbestos removal work and asbestos-related incident response work
- communicate school community impact information to the OIC for planned works.
Person responsible for procuring a service provider
- ensure service provider procurement for asbestos-related scopes of work complies with this procedure.
Person responsible for a service provider contract
- ensure asbestos-related enforcement notices received by service providers are retained, communicated and actioned, where relevant.
- ensure information regarding changes to facilities resulting from asbestos work is obtained, assessed and referred to QBuild and the OIC, where relevant.
- ensure records of communication of post works asbestos documents are maintained.
Person responsible for procuring a contracted project manager
- ensure project managers are contracted to meet the project manager requirements outlined in this procedure.
Person responsible for a project manager contract
- ensure records of communication of post works asbestos documents are maintained.
Director, Infrastructure Safety
- ensure ongoing access to the department’s asbestos register is provided to the public, employees and Directors responsible for the leasing of early childhood education and care (ECEC) facilities.
- ensure asbestos training needs are identified and the training is accessible to departmental employees.
- ensure a Departmental asbestos assurance framework is established.
- ensure asbestos-related enforcement notices issued to the department are communicated as required.
- ensure asbestos-related records and retention requirements are identified and a Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule is maintained and accessible.
Director, Maintenance and Improvement, Infrastructure Services Division
- ensure that property inspections conducted for department-owned housing include a check of asbestos registers and warning notices.
Directors responsible for the leasing of department-owned facilities
- for ECEC facilities, ensure ECEC facility operators are provided access to the asbestos register relevant to the facility.
Local Accommodation Officer, or OIC if there is no nominated Local Accommodation Officer
- report matters regarding the condition of ACM, asbestos register and asbestos warning notices at department-owned housing to the relevant Regional Infrastructure Manager.
Regional Infrastructure Manager
- ensure actions are initiated to rectify reported issues with the presence and condition of asbestos registers and asbestos warning notices at department-owned housing
- ensure actions are initiated to rectify reported issues with the condition of asbestos at department-owned housing.
Deputy Director-General, Infrastructure Services Division
- ensure an asbestos register is established for asbestos facilities
- ensure a program for maintaining ACM condition is established
- consider any requests for asbestos removal work to be done by service providers at a time when persons will be present at the facility.
Manager, Asbestos Removal Program
- include relevant ACM with make-safes into the Asbestos Removal Program
- maintain a make-safe register that identifies active make-safes (established from the commencement of this procedure)
- obtain confirmations from OICs that active make-safes remain intact and undisturbed.
Process
Asbestos management process
Establish plan for managing asbestos
Establish and review departmental AMP
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure that:
- the departmental generic AMP is monitored to confirm that it has been reviewed in line with legislative timeframes
- changes to the AMP and associated plans, procedures, tools and templates arising from the review, are communicated to relevant parties affected by the changes.
Establish site-specific AMP for state school that is an ACM site
The OIC of an ACM site that provides education to students (state schools, outdoor education centres and environmental education centres) must ensure:
Make AMP readily accessible for other ACM sites
The OIC of a facility that is an ACM site that does not provide education to students (for example, office accommodation) must ensure:
Establish site responsibilities
The OIC must establish asbestos management delegations in accordance with the Tool: Asbestos management, asbestos incident, and work area access permit delegations process.
Training
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure that the Mandatory Annual Training - Ready Reckoner facilitates the identification of asbestos training for identified asbestos management and WAAP roles.
Employees must participate in asbestos training identified for their role as identified through the current Mandatory Annual Training - Ready Reckoner.
The OIC must ensure employees have participated in the training as identified through the current Mandatory Annual Training - Ready Reckoner.
The OIC must ensure an up-to-date register of departmental employees who have received the BEMIR learning journey of the asbestos management training is maintained. For ACM sites, this will be achieved through ongoing updates to the site-specific AMP.
Manage the presence of in-situ asbestos
Maintain asbestos register
The Deputy Director-General, Infrastructure Services Division must ensure that an asbestos register/s continues to be maintained for departmental facilities known or assumed to contain asbestos.
Make the asbestos register available
All facilities (other than department-owned housing)
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure:
- the public is provided access to the department’s asbestos register/s via the department’s website
- departmental personnel are provided access to the department’s most up to date asbestos register/s via BEMIR
- Directors for leasing of department owned facilities to ECEC facility operators are informed when the asbestos register on the department’s website is updated.
The Director responsible for the leasing of department-owned facilities to ECEC facility operators must ensure lessees are given a copy of the:
- asbestos register, applicable to the premises, when the lease is established
- relevant parts of the updated register when the departmental asbestos register, published on thedepartment’s website, is updated or not more than six-monthly, whichever is the shorter period of time.
The OIC must ensure that:
- the asbestos register for the facility is made available to facility employees, service providers and other visitors (as required)
- a copy of the asbestos register is printed immediately after a site-specific AMP is signed by the OIC (to support business continuity in the event that BEMIR is not accessible)
- the printed copy of the asbestos register is retained at the workplace for interested parties.
Employees must refer to the relevant asbestos register content for the facility prior to the commencement of any construction or maintenance related work on the facility.
Department-owned housing
The Director, Maintenance and Improvement, Infrastructure Services Division, must ensure that property inspections conducted for department-owned housing includes a check that a laminated copy of the asbestos register, for the housing, is available in a conspicuous location nearby to the asbestos warning notices at the premises.
The Local Accommodation Officer (LAO), or the OIC if there is no nominated LAO, for department-owned housing must ensure:
- tenants receive, before commencing their tenancy, information on how to access the asbestos register for the accommodation
- the tenant is informed of the location of the asbestos register at the premises
- advice received from tenants about issues with the presence and condition of the asbestos register is reported to the relevant Regional Infrastructure Manager for rectification.
Employees must:
- not remove, relocate or alter housing asbestos registers
- report to the LAO or OIC, as relevant, any issues with the presence and condition of the asbestos register, for example, degraded and illegible.
The Regional Infrastructure Manager must ensure actions are initiated to rectify reported issues with the presence and condition of asbestos registers at department-owned housing.
Indicate the presence of ACM
Facilities other than department-owned housing
The OIC of an ACM site must ensure that asbestos warning signage is installed at the facility in accordance with the Queensland Government Asbestos Management Policy for its Assets – Implementation Standard 1: Minimum Requirements for Asbestos, specifically:
- at least one publicly visible warning sign placed at the facility central control point in a location visible to anyone who may disturb ACM (for example reception, office counter)
- signage is compliant with AS1319: Safety signs for the occupational environment.
The OIC must ensure the signage is:
- printed using the signage template on the department’s asbestos management pages
- wall mounted (with an appropriate fixing) if it is assessed that a desktop sign is likely to be damaged, lost or stolen.
- of the following minimum size:
- desktop – A5; or
- wall-mounted – A4.
See Template: Asbestos warning sign (for facilities other than Department-owned housing).
Employees must:
- not remove, relocate or alter asbestos warning signage at the facility
- report to the OIC, any issues with the presence and condition of asbestos warning signage at the facility.
Department-owned housing
The Director, Maintenance and Improvement, Infrastructure Services Division, must ensure that property inspections conducted for department-owned housing include a check that asbestos warning notices are installed in accordance with the Queensland Government Asbestos Management Policy for its Assets – Implementation Standard 1: Minimum Requirements for Asbestos, specifically at least two warning notices; one internal and one external. Employees must:
- not remove, relocate or alter housing asbestos warning notices
- report to the LAO, or the OIC if there is no nominated LAO, for department-owned housing any issues with the presence and condition of asbestos warning notices.
See Template: Asbestos warning notice (for department-owned housing).
An LAO, or the OIC if there is no nominated LAO, for department-owned housing who receives advice about the presence and condition of asbestos warning notices must report the matter to the relevant Regional Infrastructure Manager for rectification.
The Regional Infrastructure Manager must ensure actions are initiated to rectify reported issues with the presence and condition of asbestos warning notices at department-owned housing.
Monitor ACM condition
The Deputy Director-General, Infrastructure Services Division, will ensure a program of works is maintained to:
- monitor the condition of identified assumed and confirmed ACM at maximum intervals of five-yearly inspections
- ensure the asbestos register is updated to reflect any changes
- make safe any assumed or confirmed ACM identified to be in an unsafe condition.
The OIC must ensure the delivery of the program of works is supported through:
- coordination with asbestos auditors of on-site audits
- provision of relevant information to support the auditor’s assessments, for example:
- recent or persistent damage to the facility
- history of previous incidents
- purpose of building or rooms (particularly where the use of the space has changed since the last audit)
- any concerns about particular materials
- previous and upcoming works affecting assumed or confirmed asbestos (including asbestos removal)
- recent asbestos sampling
- building plans/drawings/maps.
Report and respond to deterioration of ACM
All facilities (other than department-owned housing)
If an employee identifies a hazard involving deteriorated material (including building materials and soil geofabric used for containment) which is suspected to be ACM, the employee must:
The OIC must ensure that for reports of deteriorated suspected ACM, the asbestos register is checked by a person with BEMIR training. The check is to determine whether the identified deterioration involves assumed or confirmed ACM (i.e., the deteriorated item is listed on the asbestos register).
Employees must not undertake this check without having received BEMIR training.
If the check identifies that the deteriorated material is assumed or confirmed ACM, the OIC must ensure:
- the area is restricted, where relevant. Examples of restriction actions include:
- locking the door to an area
- installing barricading
- signage is installed to warn people of the potential danger
- QBuild is contacted to initiate response actions, including make-safe actions.
If the check identifies that the deteriorated material is not ACM, the OIC must ensure:
- the reporting party is advised of the result of the check
- rectification actions are initiated as necessary.
The OIC must ensure that an area that has been restricted because of deterioration is not reoccupied until QBuild has confirmed the area is safe for reoccupation.
Department-owned housing
If an employee who is a tenant of department-owned housing identifies a deteriorated material which is suspected to be ACM in department-owned domestic premises, the employee must:
- not touch or disturb the deteriorated material
- report the deterioration in accordance with the relevant tenancy agreement.
The person responsible for the tenancy agreement who received advice about the condition of ACM must report the matter to the relevant Regional Infrastructure Manager for rectification.
The Regional Infrastructure Manager must ensure:
- matters raised about asbestos deterioration are acted upon as soon as practicable but not more than one business day after the report is made
- consideration is given to the risk to the tenant, based on the report, and the need for temporary accommodation
- actions to rectify reported issues with condition of asbestos at department-owned housing are initiated within a timeframe commensurate with the risk presented and measures available to manage the risk temporarily.
Respond to asbestos-related incidents
Asbestos-related incidents must be managed in accordance with the Asbestos incident management procedure.
Manage make-safes
The Manager, Asbestos Removal Program, must ensure:
- active make-safes are identified from completed WAAPs
- 'confirmed ACMs' associated with the identified active make-safes are added to the Asbestos Removal Program for priority removal
- 'assumed ACMs' associated with the identified active make-safes are sampled for the presence of asbestos and added to the Asbestos Removal Program if testing confirms the presence of asbestos
- a register is maintained of the identified active make-safes that relate to confirmed ACMs, which incorporates as a minimum the:
- date of the make-safe or if not known the 'closed' date of the WAAP that identified the make-safe
- ACM identification number ("ACMID" on the asbestos register) associated with the make-safe
- location of the ACM (as identified on the asbestos register)
- facility to which the make-safe relates
- date of the last facility confirmation that the active make-safe is intact and undisturbed
- name of the person who conducted the last inspection of the make-safe
- status of make-safe (for example, 'intact and undisturbed', 'not intact or disturbed - QBuild contacted for rectification', 'relevant ACM now removed')
- a record is maintained of the:
- date that the ACM to which the make-safe relates was removed
- the identified make-safes that were associated with assumed ACMs that were subsequently identified to not contain asbestos (asbestos register entry of 'not present (tested)' or 'not present (not tested)')
- the OIC of facilities with active make-safes are contacted at not more than three-monthly intervals to confirm that the active make-safes are intact and undisturbed.
The OIC must ensure that:
- information about make-safes is provided to the Asbestos Removal Program in line with the Work area access permit procedure
- information about whether active make-safes are intact and undisturbed is provided to the Asbestos Removal Program on request and only after the relevant ACM has been inspected
- actions are initiated for QBuild to attend to the make-safe if it is identified that the make-safe is not intact or is disturbed.
The OIC must ensure a copy of the latest make-safe information provided to the Asbestos Removal Program is:
- retained and made available to personnel at the facility
- communicated to employees likely to interact with make-safes (for example, cleaners and schools officers)
- provided to any auditor conducting an assessment of the condition of ACM at the facility.
Managing works on facilities
General
Departmental employees must only provide work area access to service providers if the access has been authorised by the OIC or an OIC delegate.
Departmental employees must not:
- engage service providers without the explicit approval of the OIC
- provide departmental equipment to service providers for their use during works.
Departmental employees who believe they have identified materials that may contain asbestos, that are not recorded in the asbestos register (suspect materials), must report the matter to the OIC or an OIC delegate.
The OIC or an OIC delegate who receives a report of suspect material from a departmental employee must initiate steps for QBuild to conduct an assessment of the material.
Plan works
All works
The person responsible for planning project or maintenance works must ensure:
- where the works are intended to involve disturbance of soil:
- regard is had for the content of any Asbestos in soil site management plan relevant to the facility;
- the results of an Asbestos in soils assessment, where required under this procedure, are considered to determine appropriate management of asbestos in soils associated with the proposed works;
- works have regard for the following departmental operational policies and that planning facilitates them being complied with where relevant:
- prohibition of works (other than asbestos removal) being conducted on low density board
- prohibition of enclosure, encapsulation or sealing of ACMs in structures other than for make-safe and asbestos in soil management purposes
- while works, including sampling and maintenance works, are being conducted on assumed or confirmed ACM:
- the area or room is cleared of facility community members not involved with the works, for example, students and staff
- access is restricted while the service providers are working
- asbestos removal work is not conducted during facility school/business hours unless arrangements have been made to ensure that facility community members and others who generally use the facility will not be present during the works
- no persons other than service providers are to be at the facility during asbestos removal works unless otherwise approved by the Deputy Director-General, Infrastructure Services Division, in consultation with the Early Childhood and State Schools Associate Director-General (or the Associate Director-General's representative)
- prohibition on departmental employees, including volunteers, carrying out work that will disturb any assumed or confirmed ACMs
- QBuild is engaged for any asbestos sampling activities that are arranged by departmental employees
- works have regard for departmental limitations imposed for the service providers who may undertake work that involves:
The person responsible for planning of activities that involve asbestos work must ensure:
- consideration is given to the impact of asbestos works on other service providers or the facility community
- strategies are implemented to prevent or minimise risk from the potential interaction of the service providers and the facility community during the asbestos work.
Projects
The person responsible for planning project works must ensure project planning includes:
- the use of the department’s asbestos labelling requirements for project works at ACM facilities (refer Asbestos management plan for Department of Education facilities and Working on Department of Education facilities document for details of the requirements)
- asbestos removal and safe design decision making through a consideration of:
- the assumed or confirmed asbestos associated with the works (based on asbestos register and other site information) – this may necessitate additional sampling and testing
- the likelihood for asbestos to be disturbed as part of the works
- whether it is reasonably practicable to remove asbestos as part of the works
If is not reasonably practicable to remove asbestos, whether there are opportunities to specify requirements that will ensure safe design outcomes for the facility, for example, selecting a location for student ball activities that is not adjoining an ACM wall.
To achieve this, the following documents must be sourced from the Infrastructure Investment Portal and applied, where relevant, for centrally managed projects:
- Project Delivery Checklist
- Legislative Compliance Strategy Checklist
- Project Proposal (SDPP or CD)
- Project Steering Committee Meeting Notes – instruction
- Terms of Reference for Project Management Team SOA PQP - Template
Access to the Portal is arranged through PortfolioServices.ISD@qed.qld.gov.au (DoE employees only).
The person responsible for procuring a contracted project manager must ensure that the relevant departmental project manager terms of reference are utilised.
The person responsible for planning project works at State schools must ensure that:
- the Template: Asbestos in soils assessment decision formis competed and the relevant asbestos in soils assessment actions are carried out
- the procurement documentation for the conduct of an asbestos in soils assessment makes it clear that:
- the assessment must be conducted:
- the report of the asbestos in soils assessment must:
- address:
- the extent of asbestos contamination in soils where proposed excavation works are to occur
- whether or not 7mm sieving of 10 litre samples was conducted and if not the reasons
- recommended controls for the management of identified contamination, for example, removal, encapsulation, redesign of works
- recommended ongoing management post implementation of the control options
- licence types required for any recommended removal of contamination, including relevant work health and safety legislative references and Work Health and Safety Regulator guidance
- soil disposal permit requirements for any recommended removal of contamination
- whether the contamination meets the threshold for registration on the Queensland Environmental Management Register,
- include the name and signature of the suitably qualified person that conducted or supervised the conduct of the assessment;
- be accompanied by a completed Template: SQP Asbestos in soils assessment report checklist
- the Suitably Qualified Person is provided the following information to support the conduct of the asbestos in soil assessment:
- documentation that details the proposed excavation works, including anticipated depths to be excavated
- any current Asbestos in soils site management plan relevant to the site
- past asbestos in soils assessments for the site
- available past geotechnical reports
- available diagrams showing the layout of infrastructure at the site
- the site asbestos register
- the Environmental Management Register search results.
The person responsible for planning project works must ensure asbestos in soils assessment records (including the completed Asbestos in soils assessment decision form and any resultant reports) are maintained in BEMIR (in addition to any locations relevant to project-specific record maintenance management procedures).
Refer Tool: Asbestos in soils management guide for further information on:
- applying the asbestos in soils assessment decision requirements (flowchart)
- engaging a Suitably Qualified Person for asbestos in soils assessments, including the minimum information to be outlined in the request for services.
Maintenance
The person responsible for planning maintenance works must ensure:
- ACMs that may be disturbed during the work are identified using the asbestos register
- QBuild is engaged, prior to the commencement of the work, to conduct sampling of the identified ACMs with an ‘assumed’ status
- works are not commenced until the sample analysis results are known and have been communicated to the relevant service provider or departmental employee performing the works.
Procure works
The person responsible for procuring service providers must:
- use the Tool: Asbestos removal service provider eligibility criteria, if the works will not be managed by a project manager from QED 97391 PQP - Project Managers for Infrastructure Services (the Department's list of recognised project managers), to determine who is eligible to be engaged for departmental asbestos removal scopes of work
- ensure procurement documents reflect the criteria determination where relevant (to assist service provider understanding of eligibility to be contracted for the works)
- ensure potential service providers are:
- consider asbestos safety performance history of potential service providers when selecting the successful provider.
If the works are to be managed by a contracted project manager (rather than directly by the department), the person responsible for procuring the project manager must ensure that there are contractual obligations on the project manager to:
- provide the OIC for a school facility with school community impact information before and during the conduct of works that may disturb assumed or confirmed ACM
- provide to the OIC of the facility a copy of asbestos-related enforcement notices for the works pertaining to:
- matters that have, or could have impacted on departmental operations, or
- risk to the school community
- only allow asbestos removal to be undertaken by service providers who meet the criteria in the Tool: Asbestos removal service provider eligibility criteria
- apply the Working on Department of Education facilities document
- give relevant parts of the asbestos register to service providers with requests for quotation of works.
Pre-works
The person responsible for planning works must communicate to the OIC, where relevant, any school community impact information associated with the works.
The OIC must ensure any school community impact information is communicated to potentially affected parties including:
- departmental employees
- out of hours school care providers
- community organisations using the facility
- Parents and Citizens’ association members.
The OIC must ensure a WAAP is created and issued for the work in accordance with the requirements of the Work area access permit procedure.
The OIC must ensure that any revised information obtained through the start work meeting is communicated to potentially affected parties.
During works
Departmental employees must not carry out works on assumed or confirmed ACM.
The OIC or an OIC delegate must communicate to potentially affected parties any changes to school community impact information that arises during the works.
All employees must manage asbestos-related incidents that occur during works in accordance with the Asbestos incident management procedure.
The OIC or an OIC delegate who has been notified, by a service provider, of a departmental asbestos-related incident involving asbestos in soils must:
- initiate the Asbestos incident management procedure, which includes, contacting QBuild to respond to the event
- consider the QBuild proposed course of action and approve or reject the proposed course of action
- if the course of action is rejected - refer the matter back to QBuild for submission of alternative proposed course of action
- inform the departmental person responsible for the service provider contract (if not the same person) of the approved course of action.
An asbestos in soils discovery event is considered a departmental asbestos-related incident if:
- a Safe Work Method Statement (SWMS) for the discovery of asbestos while using powered mobile plant or hand-held powered plant:
- was not in place (note: a SWMS may not be in place because BEMIR doesn’t identify ACM as being present at the facility or BEMIR does identify ACM as being present at the facility, but the service provider hadn’t prepared a SWMS (non-compliance with requirement), or
- wasn’t required for the work and ACM was discovered during the course of the work, and
- the event has impacted or potentially impacted the safety of the facility community during the facility’s business operations.
The departmental person responsible for a service provider contract associated with an asbestos in soils discovery event that is not a departmental asbestos-related incident for the department must:
- consider the course of action proposed by the service provider
- approve or reject the proposed course of action
- if the course of action is rejected - refer the matter back to the service provider for submission of alternative proposed course of action
- initiate steps, as necessary, to support the ‘approved’ course of action.
Note: The Working on Department of Education facilities document outlines:
- that a service provider (QBuild or otherwise) must inform the facility of an asbestos in soils discovery event
- the action that must be taken if the asbestos in soils discovery event is considered a departmental asbestos-related incident or not - these actions include determining a proposed course of action and implementing the 'approved' course of action.
The purpose of these arrangements is to ensure that the discovered materials are managed in accordance with arrangements approved by the Department. Refer to the definition of 'asbestos-related incident' and Overview of the Asbestos incident management procedure to assist in understanding whether an incident is a departmental asbestos-related incident.
Post works
The person responsible for the service provider contract must ensure that the service provider for the works has submitted a completed Template: Facilities change document, and supporting certificates, for works that have involved:
- asbestos removal (for example, clearance certificates)
- asbestos sampling
- unexpected disturbance of assumed or confirmed ACM that was not required to be reffered to QBuild for incident response, i.e. it did not affect or potentially affect the safety of the Facility community
- changes that affect the original floor plan of an area, for example, removal of a wall between two rooms
- the discovery of asbestos in soils.
The person responsible for the service provider contract must ensure that a line drawing is obtained from the service provider that illustrates any changes that have been made that affect the original floor plan of an area.
The person responsible for the service provider contract must ensure the Template: Facilities change document is assessed for completeness.
The person responsible for the service provider contract must ensure certificates, obtained from service providers, verifying that soil imported to the facility was ‘clean’ are recorded and retained in line with the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule.
The person responsible for the service provider contract must ensure the following post works asbestos documents are provided to the QBuild BEMIR Team BEMIR@epw.qld.gov.au and the OIC (where the OIC is not the person responsible for the service provider contract):
The person responsible for a project manager contract must coordinate with the project manager to ensure the post work asbestos documents are obtained and referred to the QBuild BEMIR Team and the OIC as relevant.
The OIC of a facility may determine that an Asbestos in soil site management plan is necessary to facilitate ongoing monitoring for the presence of asbestos in/on soils.
Examples of circumstances that may lead to a determination that such Plan is necessary include:
- recurring discovery of asbestos debris at the facility
- a recommendation from an Asbestos in soils assessment
- knowledge of asbestos in soil encapsulation at the facility.
An Asbestos in soil site management plan must:
- reference:
- any asbestos in soil reports relevant to the plan
- relevant history of discovered ACM (location, type and response treatment)
- address:
- facility locations to be inspected, including site diagram
- frequency of inspections
- relevant additional control strategies, for example, area permanently restricted, grass coverage to be maintained
- other circumstances when inspections may be necessary, for example, significant weather events
- persons responsible for conducting the inspections
- actions to be taken in response to inspection outcomes
- mechanisms for ensuring the inspections are conducted in accordance with the identified frequencies and recorded.
Refer Tool: Asbestos in soils management guide for a plan template and an example for preparing key parts of an asbestos in soil site management plan.
The OIC must:
- ensure measures are in place to confirm that an Asbestos in soil site management plan for the facility is being applied
- ensure actions are initiated to address any identified failures in asbestos in soil management controls
- review the Asbestos in soil site management plan for the facility, if prepared, every two years for ongoing suitability.
Monitoring
Develop departmental asbestos assurance framework
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure a departmental asbestos assurance framework is established and implemented in accordance with the Tool: Departmental asbestos assurance framework process.
Conduct facility assurance activities
The OIC must ensure an annual review is conducted of the effectiveness of facility specific asbestos management related procedures, processes and systems used by the facility to support application of this procedure. The review must consider relevant incidents that have occurred for the review period.
The OIC may communicate to the Director, Infrastructure Safety, at sitespecificAMP@qed.qld.gov.au information regarding:
- issues experienced in applying departmental procedures locally at the facility
- recommendations proposed to address the issues experienced.
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must:
- consider the issues raised and recommendations made by facilities
- have regard for these in the reporting for the relevant Departmental annual asbestos assurance plan.
Manage enforcement notices and interaction with the WHS Regulator or external enforcement agencies
Enforcement notices issued to the department
The OIC must ensure a copy of an asbestos-related enforcement notice issued to the department, is immediately supplied to:
- the relevant Regional Director (schools and regional offices)
- the relevant Regional Infrastructure Manager (schools and regional offices)
- Director, Infrastructure Safety, via email to Infrastructure.Safety@qed.qld.gov.au
- Director, Organisational Safety and Wellbeing, via HSW@qed.qld.gov.au.
The OIC must immediately request support from Legal Services via email to advicerequest.LEGAL@qed.qld.gov.au regarding:
- any request by the WHS Regulator or other enforcement agency (such as those responsible for environmental or building compliance) to obtain documents or interview staff
- subpoenas, warrants or written requests for interview or documents issued by the WHS Regulator or other enforcement agency.
The OIC may:
- ask that requests by the WHS Regulator for documents be in writing
- gather information as requested and negotiate a time for provision of the information
- retain original documents and provide only copies to the WHS Regulator or enforcement agency.
The OIC must follow advice from Legal Services when responding to requests from the WHS Regulator.
Payment of infringement notices is to be made by the area responsible for the associated breach.
Enforcement notices issued to service providers
The person responsible for the service provider contract must retain (with the contract documentation) any copies of asbestos-related enforcement notices received from service providers.
The person must ensure the OIC (if not the same person) is provided a copy of asbestos-related enforcement notices pertaining to:
- matters that have, or could have impacted on departmental operations, or
- risk to the school community.
The OIC or delegate (and person responsible for the service provider contract, if relevant) must liaise with the service provider to ensure the risks identified in the enforcement notice are managed.
Records management
Maintain record and retention schedule
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must maintain the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule, which identifies:
- records that must be retained for asbestos management
- retention periods for the records (informed by the General Retention and Disposal Schedule)
- record storage locations
- any relevant authorisation requirements for record disposal.
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure a Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule is established for asbestos management records.
The Director, Infrastructure Safety, must ensure that facilities have ongoing visibility of the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule.
Retain asbestos management records
Employees must retain asbestos management records in line with the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule.
The OIC must ensure local systems and processes are established to support employees applying correct record retention requirements for asbestos management records (for the requirements outlined in the Tool: Asbestos and WAAP records and retention schedule).
Definitions
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Term
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Definition
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Asbestos containing material
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For the purposes of this procedure, any material or thing that, as part of its design, contains asbestos and is or has been used as a building material.
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ACM site
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A facility that identifies 'assumed', 'confirmed' or 'removed' ACM in the department’s asbestos register. A non-ACM site is a facility for which the department’s register states that no asbestos is identified.
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Asbestos-related incident
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An event to which the Asbestos incident management procedure applies (see Overview section and note the limited circumstances of when the procedure applies to incidents involving service providers) and involving assumed or confirmed asbestos containing building material:
- relating to work on ACM that is prohibited under section 419 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
- in which the ACM has been disturbed but the disturbance could not have been reasonably foreseen
- in which the ACM has been disturbed through intentional damage, other than for intended works, to building materials
- in which the ACM has been disturbed while conducting unauthorised asbestos work (regardless of whether the work was done safely)
- that has involved asbestos work that has been conducted without appropriate asbestos management control measures
- in which the ACM has been left in a state that could be unsafe after the works have been completed
- in which the ACM has been discovered in soil during excavation works and the discovery:
- i. was not anticipated
- ii. is not supported by a formal document outlining a detailed response for such discovery
- that involves the discovery of suspected asbestos containing dust or debris or loose or stored suspected ACM that is not related to asbestos incidents covered by 6. and 7. above.
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Asbestos Management Plan
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A written plan, required under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld), that outlines how asbestos will be managed for the place to which it applies.
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Asbestos register
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A reference point for persons to understand whether materials in a building contain asbestos. The register has been developed from the survey of materials by a competent person and lists items as:
- assumed – materials that have not yet had laboratory analysis conducted to confirm for the presence of asbestos
- confirmed – materials that have been confirmed through laboratory analysis to contain asbestos
- removed – assumed or confirmed ACM that has been removed from the facility
- not present (tested) - materials that have been confirmed through laboratory analysis to not contain asbestos
- not present (not tested) - materials that have been determined by a competent person, without testing, to not contain asbestos.
The register is located in BEMIR.
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Asbestos work
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Means:
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Built Environment Materials Information Register
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An electronic environmental management system designed and managed by Department of Housing and Public Works to assist government agencies with the management of environmentally significant matters within Government controlled buildings.
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Contingent worker
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For the purposes of this procedure, a contingent worker is a person who is engaged in a ‘non-permanent’ capacity (temporarily or on an as-needs basis) to conduct work prescribed by the department and delivered under the direction and control of the department. The workers are generally employed from temporary employment agencies or may be through secondments established through contractual arrangements.
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Department
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The department responsible for Queensland state schools and early childhood education and care.
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Departmental facility
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Facility owned by the department.
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Deterioration
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Erosion of the condition or function of a building material. Deterioration on its own (i.e. without disturbance caused by plant or people) is a hazard not an 'incident'.
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ECEC facility
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A department-owned facility in which Early Childhood Education and Care services are provided.
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Employee
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For the purposes of this procedure, an employee is a person who carries out the person’s day to day work activities under the direction of the department and includes a public servant, a contractor engaged as a contingent worker, a person engaged through a labour hire firm, a work experience student or a volunteer. An ‘employee’ does not include a service provider whose day-to-day work is not governed by direction and control of the department.
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Enforcement notice
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A notice issued by a Regulator that requires an action by the Department.
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Facility community
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The persons who are generally present at a facility. For example, at a school the facility community would include teaching staff, administration staff, students and visiting parents and carers.
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In-situ asbestos
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Asbestos containing materials that remain in the original location of the structure in which they were used, for example, asbestos cement sheeting used for lining internal walls.
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Maintenance
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Works that are directed to preserving (not improving) a facility, material or equipment.
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Make-safe
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Action taken to respond to identified deteriorated or damaged assumed or confirmed ACM that ensures:
- any exposed parts of the damaged or deteriorated ACM are sealed to prevent the release of fibres
- the area of the damaged or deteriorated ACM is enclosed so that it cannot be accessed.
It is not intended to cover maintenance (planned or unplanned) that is conducted to ensure assumed or confirmed ACM remains in a safe state, for example, reapplication of paint on ACM walls.
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Officer in charge
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The accountable person for a facility, as follows:
- for a state school:
- i. the principal
- ii. in the case of a principal’s temporary absence - the person who is established under the Education (General Provisions) Regulation 2017 (Qld) as assuming the functions and responsibilities of the principal during the principal’s absence.
- Note: it is intended that a principal would continue to be the accountable person for any short absence from the site provided the absence is not being managed under a record of appointment for the absence (for example, where the principal is away from the school and there is no need to formally appoint another person to the principal’s role for the absence).
- for an institution that provides educational instruction to persons enrolled at State schools (such as environmental education centres and outdoor education centres) or any other facility - the person with day-to-day management responsibilities for the institution or facility.
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OIC delegate
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A person who has received authority, in line with the Asbestos management, asbestos incident management and work area access permit delegations process, to act as a delegate for an OIC.
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Person responsible for planning work
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The departmental representative with carriage of responsibility for the planning of project or maintenance work at departmental facilities. This person may be a central office employee, an OIC or a regional Infrastructure Services Division employee, depending on the service delivery model applicable to the work.
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Person responsible for procuring service provider
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The departmental representative with carriage of responsibility for the procurement of service providers for project or maintenance work at departmental facilities.
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Person responsible for project manager contract
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The departmental representative with carriage of responsibility for a contract with a project manager for a scope of departmental works.
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Person responsible for a service provider contract
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The departmental representative with carriage of responsibility for a contract with a service provider for a scope of departmental works.
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Person responsible for tenancy agreements
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The departmental representative with carriage of responsibility for departmental tenancy agreements.
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Projects
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Works aimed at achieving a specific built improvement to departmental facilities through a planned approach. Projects may be of a ‘minor’ or ‘capital’ nature.
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School community impact information
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Information relating to works conducted at a school facility including:
- areas affected by the work
- likely duration of the works
- precautions to be taken by the school community during the works
- escalation arrangements for managing concerns during the works.
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Safe work method statement
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A document that addresses the information required by section 299(2) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld).
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Service provider
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Refer Work area access permit procedure.
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Simultaneous operations
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The conduct of two or more activities, occurring at the same time and place.
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Work Area Access Permit
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The written authorisation issued by the person with control of the premises granting access to designated areas for the purpose of carrying out work.
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WHS Regulator
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Work Health and Safety Queensland, the government agency in Queensland that administers the
Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld).
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Legislation
Delegations/Authorisations
Other resources
Superseded versions
Previous seven years shown. Minor version updates not included.
4.0 Management of asbestos-containing material in department-owned facilities