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Posted by Stephen Gleeson
With 2025 coming to a close, it is a time to reflect back on the year that was. In doing so, I was reminded that despite the manufacture and sale of products containing asbestos being totally banned in December 2003, the deadly material is still being discovered in many items that make up our everyday life in Australia, potentially putting us all at risk. Some recent examples this year include;
- children’s coloured play sands discovered to contain asbestos across Australia
- asbestos found in fire rated doors at a new university in Perth
- asbestos found in imported wind turbine parts in Victoria
It is little wonder, given that the majority of the world still uses asbestos (128 countries still use asbestos – 2025) and Australia imports many manufactured products from a range of countries. To compound the problem of imported items containing asbestos, in China for example, if a product contains less than 5% asbestos, the manufacturer does not have to declare there is asbestos present – hello coloured play sands!
If I can editorialise, all imported manufactured items, from countries that still use asbestos, must be thoroughly checked and tested before being permitted to be used in Australia if we are to break the cycle of asbestos slipping undetected into the country on a regular basis.
As a reminder, we at Hazcon provide a range of NATA approved (National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia) asbestos related services, including hygienist (development of Division 5 asbestos registers / audits), air monitoring, clearance certificates). Development of Asbestos Management Plans (AMP), Hazardous Building Material Audits (HAZMAT – Division 6). Also, we are an RTO (Registered Training Organisation – Code: 21519) providing nationally accredited and non-accredited training including:
- CPCCDE3014 – Remove non-friable asbestos (accredited)
- CPCCDE3015 – Remove friable asbestos (accredited)
- Class A Asbestos Removalist Refresher Training (non-accredited WorkSafe approved)
- Class B Asbestos Removalist Refresher Training (non-accredited WorkSafe approved)
- CPCCDE4008 – Supervise asbestos removal (accredited), and
- Asbestos Awareness Training (non-accredited).
For more information visit hazcon.com.au or call 1800 429 266 and we are happy to chat about how we can help.
