End of year refurb planning is in full swing across NZ workplaces. It’s the time of year when offices, retail spaces, schools, and rental properties get scoped for renovations, new fit-outs, or quiet structural updates over the summer break.
It’s also the time of year when one decision creates serious risk. Starting work on a building without checking what’s inside the walls first. If the building was consented before 2000, the chance that it contains asbestos somewhere is high. And under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, that’s not just a building concern. It’s a legal duty.
Where risk builds
Asbestos exposure rarely happens during licensed removal. It happens in the unplanned moments before anyone realised asbestos was involved:
- Drilling a single hole into a wall to mount a screen or a sign
- Cutting through a soffit, lining, or eaves panel during a quick repair
- Lifting old vinyl flooring to lay something new
- Sanding back a textured ceiling without testing it first
- Demolishing a partition wall without an asbestos survey
- Disposing of “just a small offcut” as general construction waste
Each one looks like a small task. Each one can release fibres that won’t show their effect for decades.
Why pre-2000 buildings matter
Asbestos containing materials (ACM) were used widely in NZ construction for most of the 20th century. They were cheap, fire resistant, and effective as insulation, which is exactly what made them so common in walls, ceilings, eaves, vinyl flooring, fibre cement sheets, lagging, gaskets, and roofing.
The import of new asbestos and most ACMs was banned in 2016, but the materials installed before then are still there. Buildings built or renovated before 2000 are more likely to contain ACM, often in places that look entirely ordinary.
Two facts are worth keeping in mind:
- Asbestos is still New Zealand’s number one workplace killer. Around 220 people die here every year from asbestos related diseases.
- Asbestos-related diseases often do not appear until many years, sometimes decades, after exposure. By the time someone knows they’ve been harmed, the work that caused it has long been forgotten.
This is what makes the duty to identify before disturbing so important. The harm is invisible at the time, and irreversible by the time it shows up.
The legal duty before work starts
Under the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, a PCBU with management or control of a workplace must:
- Identify whether asbestos or ACM is present, or assume that it is
- Record what’s been identified (or assumed) in an asbestos management plan
- Make that information available to anyone who could disturb it
- Use a licensed removalist for friable asbestos, and for non-friable asbestos over 10m²
“We weren’t sure if it was there” is not a defence. The duty is to find out before work starts, not after.
Focus areas before any refurb or renovation
Before any building work begins this summer, the people responsible should be clear on:
- Was the building consented before 2000? If yes, assume ACM is present until proven otherwise.
- Is there a current asbestos management plan, and have the contractors been given access to it?
- If the plan doesn’t exist, has a survey been commissioned before work starts?
- Are the trades on site (electricians, plumbers, drainlayers, builders) trained to recognise ACM and stop work if they encounter it?
- Is there a clear procedure for what happens if asbestos is found unexpectedly mid job?
Training that builds real capability
BeSafe Training delivers NZQA accredited asbestos training in partnership with SQN Consulting Ltd, with courses for every level of involvement.
Our asbestos training covers:
- Asbestos Awareness Fundamentals, with the option to complete NZQA US30596 (knowledge of asbestos and safety measures for asbestos related work). Ideal for builders, electricians, plumbers, drainlayers, and anyone who could encounter ACM on site.
- Class B Asbestos Removal, NZQA US29765, for workers removing non-friable asbestos under a Class B licence holder. Also useful for those carrying out unlicensed removal of 10m² or less of non-friable ACM.
- Class A and B Asbestos Removal, for workers removing friable asbestos under a Class A or B licence holder.
- Asbestos Removal Supervisor, NZQA US29767, for supervising the safe removal of friable and non-friable ACM.
- Asbestos Assessor, NZQA US29768, for carrying out asbestos assessments, air monitoring, and clearance inspections.
All training is aligned with the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016 and reflects current WorkSafe NZ guidance.
View course details and book now: Asbestos Training
