Government announces National Asbestos Exposure Register

The federal government has announced that the first National Asbestos Exposure Register will be created and maintained by the new national Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency.

Australia was the world’s most prolific user of asbestos-containing materials. It is estimated up to one in three homes built in Australia between the end of the Second World War and 1987 contain asbestos.

Because asbestos was used so widely in Australia, in public buildings and in house construction, as well as in the shipping industry, the country has the highest reported per capita incidence of asbestos-related disease in the world.

The Office of Asbestos Safety is already working closely with Comcare, as well as with all eight responsible state and territory work health and safety regulators, to ensure best-practice management of any potential asbestos hazards arising from the Telstra pits.

Already, Comcare has stopped work and ordered the removal of asbestos from two sites in NSW; and employers have been directed to improve the supervision of the work of contractors.

The register would include: personal details of the notifier; details of the suspected asbestos exposure, including date, location and description; witness details; and details of diagnoses of asbestos-related disease/s.

All participants agreed to support an independent taskforce to monitor Telstra’s ongoing actions to prevent exposure to asbestos, including comprehensive training and supervision of contractors.

The taskforce will include senior Telstra representatives, the Office of Asbestos Safety, Comcare and workplace health and safety regulators, industry union representatives, Barry Robson (Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia) and Geoff Fary (Chair, Asbestos Management Review).

Telstra has undertaken to report back to Ministers Shorten and Conroy on: their capacity to identify all Telstra pits that contain asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) and to make that identification public; and a program for prioritised removal of ACMs from Telstra pits.