Are you thinking of making improvements to your home?
During this time of social distancing, you may be thinking this is the perfect opportunity to make some headway on your renovations or home improvements.
However, it’s important to know that many houses built before 1990 contain asbestos cement materials, especially in the eaves, ceilings, internal and external wall cladding (particularly in wet areas such as bathrooms and laundries), as well as under tiling and lino. Old sheds and fences may also contain asbestos.
These can often be in poor condition due to age or weather exposure and pose a significant risk if asbestos fibres are released, become airborne and are then inhaled. Breathing these fibres can cause a range of life-threatening diseases including mesothelioma, lung cancer and asbestosis.
If you think there may be asbestos in or around your property, you should contact an asbestos professional (asbestos assessor or licensed removalist) before starting any work on your home.
Engaging professionals who know how to manage this work safely will protect you, your family and your neighbours from this risk. Currently, asbestos assessors and licensed removalists are continuing to work. Still, some may choose not to come to your house as a precautionary measure.
If you do arrange for an asbestos professional to come to your home during the COVID-19 pandemic, there are a number of precautions you should take to ensure correct hygiene and social distancing measures are in place:
- Check-in with the asbestos professional before they visit to ensure you are both feeling well and are not showing symptoms. If anyone in your home is showing symptoms linked to COVID-19, ask the asbestos professional to advise you on how to control the risk of asbestos exposure until you are able to have the professional attend.
- Remember: don’t shake hands, you can wave hello instead.
- Maintain a safe distance at all times in line with current social distancing guidelines.
- Provide facilities for the professional to wash their hands before and after the job is done and, if possible, supply alcohol-based hand sanitiser for them to use.
- Clean and disinfect the surrounding surfaces if work is to be carried out (unless suspected asbestos has been disturbed or is in poor condition).
- Ensure everyone in the household practises good hygiene at all times, including covering coughs and sneezes with an elbow or a tissue and regularly washing hands with soap for a full 20 seconds.
There are resources available to help you to minimise the risk of exposure to COVID-19 in circumstances where you must have professional tradespeople attend your home. You can find an example of such information here.
REMEMBER – if you are unsure if something contains asbestos, treat it as if it does and call a professional. It’s just not worth risking your health or the health of your loved ones.
Think you might have damaged or exposed asbestos in your home?
If you have started work on a home improvement project and suspect you have exposed or damaged asbestos during your work, you need to take precautions – which may include arranging for an asbestos professional to come to your home to rectify the situation. This is the case even during the COVID-19 pandemic. If you are unsure if the material contains asbestos or not, treat the substance as if it does until a professional confirms otherwise.
Damaged asbestos presents an ongoing health hazard to yourself and anyone else in your home. Asbestos is a known carcinogen and breathing in asbestos fibres may cause life-threatening illnesses such as lung cancer, asbestosis, pleural disease and mesothelioma.
The only way to be sure whether something is or isn’t asbestos is to have it tested at an accredited laboratory – you cannot tell simply by looking at it.
If you think you’ve disturbed asbestos you should stop work and seek advice from an asbestos professional on how safely to remove the asbestos and clear up the work area.
To find an asbestos assessor or a licensed removalist, you can call or visit the website of SafeworkSA.
When you call an asbestos professional to come to your home, you must each follow the latest government coronavirus restrictions and guidelines, including the following precautions to ensure that the latest government advice on hygiene measures and social distancing is followed.
- Check in with the asbestos professional before they visit to ensure you are both feeling well and are not showing symptoms. If anyone in your home is showing symptoms linked to COVID-19, ask the asbestos professional to advise you on how to control the risk of asbestos exposure until you are able to have the professional attend.
- Remember not to shake hands, you can wave hello instead.
- Maintain a safe distance at all times in line with current social distancing guidelines (1.5 meters at time of publication).
- Provide facilities for the professional to wash their hands before and after the job is done and, if possible, supply alcohol based hand sanitiser for them to use.
- Clean and disinfect the surrounding surfaces if work is to be carried out (unless suspected asbestos has been disturbed or is in poor condition).
- Ensure everyone in the household practises good hygiene at all times, including covering coughs and sneezes with an elbow or a tissue and regularly washing hands with soap for a full 20 seconds.
Many of the measures used for the safe removal of asbestos, such as isolating the work area, wearing of personal protective equipment and decontamination procedures, are also helpful in preventing the spread of the coronavirus. There is useful information about how to look after your family and any tradesperson who comes to your home during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can find examples of such information here and here. Remember, like plumbing and electrical work, asbestos removal – or renovations that might uncover asbestos – are jobs best left to the experts.
Worried about your neighbour’s renovation project or have an asbestos concern in your neighbourhood?
Renovation or maintenance works that may involve disturbing asbestos-containing materials can cause concern. It can sometimes be difficult to know what to do if you have asbestos related concerns in your neighbourhood.
We all have a duty not to harm those around us. This duty applies everywhere and to everyone.
Although every situation is unique, there is general advice available for how to deal with these concerns.
The first thing you should do (if you are confident it is safe to do so), is to talk to the person carrying out the work. Tell them about your concerns and find out if they know whether the materials do, in fact, contain asbestos or whether the person has had it tested to confirm that it is asbestos-free.
If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the conversation or if it is not possible to have a discussion with the person concerned, you may need to report the situation.
Health and safety concerns about something happening in a nearby property can usually be addressed by contacting your local council at the first instance.
- If the work is being conducted by a neighbour (a homeowner or tenant) then your local council should be your first point of contact
- If work is being carried out by a contractor or tradesperson, you should contact SafeworkSA.
- If you suspect improper removal by professional asbestos removalists, you should contact SafeworkSA.
- If the concern relates to public areas or illegally dumped asbestos in parks or bushland, your local council or state or territory environmental regulator (e.g. EPA) will be able to provide you with advice and assistance.
The Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency has a list of all these contacts for each state and territory here: www.asbestossafety.gov.au/contacts.