20.2 Asbestos, Silica & Hazardous Gases

Asbestos, Silica & Hazardous Gases

Quick Answer: Assume asbestos in anything built or refurbished before 31 December 2003 until proven otherwise. If you suspect it: stop, do not disturb, isolate, report. Chasing and drilling masonry produces respirable crystalline silica — use on-tool extraction or water suppression plus respiratory protection. Treat pits, voids and switchrooms as potential confined spaces with atmospheric hazards.

Why This Is Named in the Critical List

EPC 42 does not merely say "safety" — it names asbestos awareness and reporting and hazardous gases specifically, and UEEEL0039's knowledge evidence names asbestos, silica and hazardous gases together. Electricians disturb building fabric constantly: drilling, chasing, cutting boards, pulling cables through wall cavities and roof spaces. That makes the trade one of the highest-exposure groups for these hazards.

Asbestos — Where Electricians Meet It

Asbestos was banned in Australia from 31 December 2003. Any building constructed or refurbished before that date may contain it.

The switchboard backing panel is the one that catches electricians most often. Drilling it to mount a new device releases fibres directly into the breathing zone at head height, in an enclosed space.

The Correct Response

1. Stop work immediately. Do not drill, cut, sand, water-blast or break the material.
2. Do not disturb it further. Leave the material in place.
3. Isolate the area and prevent others from entering or disturbing it.
4. Report to the PCBU or site controller, who must consult the asbestos register — every workplace with asbestos must have one, and it must be available to workers.
5. Wait for the material to be identified by a competent person and, if required, removed by a licensed asbestos removalist.
6. Do not attempt to identify it yourself by breaking a sample off, and do not rely on visual identification alone.
7. Record the encounter and the actions taken.

Additional points: friable asbestos requires a Class A licensed removalist; non-friable removal above the prescribed area threshold requires at least a Class B licence. Health monitoring applies to workers at risk of exposure. There is no safe level of exposure, and the diseases have latency periods measured in decades.

Respirable Crystalline Silica

Cutting, grinding, drilling or chasing concrete, brick, tile, engineered stone or fibre cement releases respirable crystalline silica — particles small enough to reach deep lung tissue and cause silicosis, which is irreversible.

Electrical tasks that generate it: chasing walls for conduit, core-drilling slabs, cutting pavers for underground routes, drilling masonry for fixings, and cutting fibre cement sheet.

Controls, in hierarchy order:

• Eliminate or substitute — surface-mount rather than chase; use existing penetrations; use a fixing method that does not require drilling.
• Engineering — on-tool dust extraction with an appropriate class of vacuum, or water suppression on cutting equipment.
• Administrative — restrict the area, plan the work for low-occupancy times, clean up with a suitable vacuum rather than sweeping or compressed air.
• PPE — correctly fitted respiratory protection, fit-tested and appropriate to the exposure.

Never dry-cut without control and never use compressed air to blow dust off yourself or the work area. Both are treated as serious safety failures.

Hazardous Gases and Atmospheres

A confined space is an enclosed or partially enclosed space not designed for occupancy, with restricted entry or exit, and which may have a hazardous atmosphere. Entry requires:

• A confined space entry permit.
• Atmospheric testing before entry and monitoring during, for oxygen, flammable gas and toxic gas.
• Ventilation or purging where required.
• A standby person outside the space and a rescue plan that does not require the standby person to enter unaided.
• Appropriate training — confined space entry is a separate competency.

Never enter a pit or void because "it's only a metre deep". Heavier-than-air gases pool at the bottom, and oxygen-deficient atmospheres give no warning at all. Multiple Australian fatalities involve would-be rescuers entering a space and collapsing beside the first victim.

Reporting Culture

The consistent theme across all three hazards is the same: you are not expected to be the expert — you are expected to recognise, stop and report. A licensed electrician who drills an asbestos backing panel because the job was nearly finished has failed EPC 42 regardless of how compliant the wiring is.