Asbestos Management Plan

Why?

Your place of work is a place where you spend a ⅓ of your week. While asbestos has many good building qualities, such as a high resistance to heat, fire and electricity, it is extremely important to make sure the asbestos around you does not release airborne fibres.

An asbestos management plan aims to determine if your place of work is safe to occupy in terms of asbestos exposure. Therefore, it is not only a legal responsibility but also morally important too.

 The asbestos management plan includes a description of how to manage asbestos-containing material, including:

• The condition of asbestos and its location
• How you are going to manage any risks related to asbestos
• How to record incidents or emergencies associated with asbestos
• A timetable to deal with the associated risks
• Procedure document showing how to revise and review the Asbestos Management Plan

The Technical

The owner of any building where asbestos might be present must have a written asbestos management plan in place. Because asbestos is potentially hazardous to anyone who may come in contact with it, we want to make sure that all workers, tenants, clients and visitors are aware of any asbestos present around them. WorkSafe NZ, New Zealand's agency for health and safety at work, introduced this law in 2016. If you have any questions about this legislation, please call us. We'll be happy to help.

An asbestos management plan uses the information gathered during the management survey to create a plan. All confirmed or presumed asbestos materials will be entered into the plan.

 Here are some of the things that your asbestos management plan should include:

• Identification of asbestos and relevant information about the asbestos materials.
• Decision, and reasons for the decisions, about how the asbestos will be managed.
• Procedures should any emergencies arise involving asbestos.
• Any workers who carry out work involving asbestos, including:
  • Asbestos information and training has been provided to the workers.
  • The roles and responsibilities of the workers.
  • Any health monitoring of the workers that has been or will be carried out.

An asbestos management plan is a requirement by law as per subpart 2, sections 10 to 14 of the asbestos regulations. Any person conducting or undertaking business (PCBU) is responsible for ensuring a written asbestos management plan is in place and kept up to date. Some examples of a PCBU may be a body corporate, a property owner or a property manager.