ASBESTOS
Asbestos in New Zealand
Asbestos was commonly used in building products from the 1940s onwards and as a result many
New Zealand buildings and homes built before before 1 January 2000 are likely to contain some
type of asbestos materials.
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The management and removal of asbestos in New Zealand is governed by the Health & Safety at Work Asbestos Regulations and the Approved Code of Practice (ACOP) for Asbestos.
All professionals working with asbestos should adhere to these regulations at all times.
Asbestos Removal
There are two types of Licences for professionals removing asbestos in New Zealand:
Class B licence holders can only remove non-friable asbestos (solid)
Class A licence holders can remove all types of asbestos including friable (crumbling)
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Not all asbestos related work requires a licence, however the person(s) carrying out the work should
be competent and sufficiently trained in how to work with asbestos safely.
Asbestos Surveys
There are a number of situations where the presence of asbestos and asbestos-containing material (ACM) in a workplace must be identified.One means of identifying asbestos and ACM is to have a survey carried out by an asbestos surveyor. An asbestos surveyor needs to have sufficient training, qualifications, knowledge, experience and ability to sample and identify asbestos.
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Asbestos Assessors
An asbestos assessor provides air quality monitoring during removal work, inspects the finished job and provides a clearance certificate. An assessor’s licence is required to carry out air monitoring and issue clearance certificates for all Class A (friable) asbestos removal sites.