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On 30 March 2006, the Minister for Industrial Relations, Katy Gallagher, introduced the Asbestos Legislation Amendment Bill 2006. If passed the Bill will commence on 1 July 2006. It will establish a new asbestos management regime for the residential sector and those occupations that handle asbestos on a regular basis or in the course of their work.
The Bill will amend existing legislation including the Building Act 2004, the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004, the Civil Law (Sale of Residential) Property Act 2003 and the Residential Tenancies Act 1997. The Bill is a significant improvement on the earlier rushed asbestos laws passed by the Government before the last election. The Government has adopted the vast majority of the Asbestos Task Force’s recommendations and the enactment of the Bill will create a more manageable system.
The types of changes proposed include:
- establishing a new asbestos management regime for the residential property sector
- providing for the licensing and training of construction and other occupations that regularly handle asbestos
- establishing requirements to provide information on the likely location of asbestos in homes built prior to 1985
- exemption from the building approval process minor maintenance work around homes and other types of buildings.
Consequences and implications of the Bill
The amendments in the Bill are based on extensive community consultation and on the specific recommendations of the Asbestos Task Force. (The Task Force was formed to analyse the extent and impact of asbestos in the ACT, raise community awareness, and report to Government on the existing legislation.) The introduction of this Bill is welcome news for the property industry and removes the unmanageable aspects of the existing legislation which were of particular concern. The Government intends to undertake an education and communication program before the Bill commences to ensure that homeowners and industry participants are aware of any new obligations under the legislation.
Timing for reforms to commercial property
The Bill does not include the non-residential asbestos requirements proposed by Task Force’s report. These will be incorporated later as part of the National Hazardous Substances Regulatory Framework implementation.
Exemption from minor maintenance work
The current Building Act 2004 requires that any asbestos work, no matter how small in size, be undertaken or supervised by a licensed builder. The Task Force was concerned about the impracticalities of this approach. As a consequence the Building Act will be amended to exempt from the building approval process “minor maintenance work” and work involving less than 10m2 of bonded asbestos by prescribed trade, service and maintenance occupations. Minor maintenance work is defined as minor maintenance carried out on a residential or non-residential premises that is personally done by an individual who owns or occupies the premises. This will mean that owners may do minor maintenance without complying with the building approval related processes, thereby removing one of the onerous requirements of the existing legislation.
Codes of practice
Under the amended Building Act 2004 the Minister will be allowed to approve codes of practice. The codes of practice will set out practices, standards and other matters about building work if the work involves using, handling or disposal of asbestos. An approved code of practice will be a disallowable instrument.
New licensing regime
Under amendments to the Construction Occupations (Licensing) Act 2004, licensing regimes will be established for the new occupations of “asbestos assessor” and “asbestos removalist”. Builders will no longer undertake asbestos building work, as this will be undertaken by an asbestos removalist. However, transitional arrangements are in place to ensure that existing builders have time to do the necessary training to convert their licenses to comply with the new requirements. Under the new Bill, all building certifiers and prescribed occupations will have to undertake relevant asbestos training.
Less onerous requirements on owners
The current Dangerous Substances Act 2004 requires owners of premises to provide written information about what they know of asbestos located on their property. Instead under the Bill owners will have to provide an asbestos assessment report. Or if an asbestos assessment does not exist or has not been obtained for the premises, the owner of residential premises built before 1985 must submit a predetermined form of government notice about the likely location of asbestos. This information is to be provided by the owner/occupier of residential premises:
- with tenancy agreements
- with contracts for sale
- when engaging trades people to do works on the premises.
An owner need not provide an asbestos assessment report when engaging a tradesperson to do construction work at the premises if they are unable to obtain a copy of the report after taking reasonable steps, or in an emergency.