Working with asbestos, explained properly

The first question: which type of work is it?

Everything else follows from this. The regulations split asbestos work into three types, and the type decides whether you need to be a registered contractor at all.

The 10 m² line is where most small contractors get caught. Strip a roof one weekend and go back to the same property four months later for the rest, and the regulations do not let you call either job type 1.

Registering as an asbestos contractor

For type 2 and type 3 work you must be registered with the chief inspector at the Department of Employment and Labour, and regulation 12(1)(a) says you may undertake only the type of work you are registered for. A type 2 registration does not let you take a type 3 job.

The regulations set the requirement but do not publish the application form or the fee, because registration is handled administratively by the Department. Apply through the Department of Employment and Labour and confirm the current requirements with them directly before you quote on work.

Registration is not the only thing a job needs. Once you hold it, every project still carries its own notice, plan of work, monitoring and clearance.

Seven days notice, every single time

Regulation 10 is the one people miss. Before any asbestos work — type 1 included — the Chief Director: Provincial Operations must be notified in writing at least seven days before work starts. For type 1 that notice must state the location, venue and contact details for the site. For type 2 and type 3 it must be on the form in Annexure 2 of the regulations.

The Department has to acknowledge receipt in writing within that seven day window. A shorter period is only allowed in a genuine emergency, and that is the Chief Director’s call, not yours.

For type 2 and type 3 work the approved plan of work must also be submitted to the Chief Director at least seven days before commencement.

Who does what on a job

The regulations name three roles and give each of them duties. On a type 2 or type 3 job all three have to exist.

• The asbestos client. The building owner or whoever commissions the work. They must supply an up-to-date inventory of asbestos in place, have a risk assessment done before work starts, appoint an approved inspection authority in writing, and update the inventory if something turns up that was not on it.
• The registered asbestos contractor. You. Work only within your registration type, appoint a health and safety representative under section 17 of the Act, appoint an asbestos removal supervisor in writing for each site, run and document the risk assessment, and follow the approved plan of work exactly.
• The approved inspection authority. Independent of you. Does the air monitoring during the job and the clearance at the end. You cannot sign off your own work.

What has to be in the plan of work

Regulation 15 lists the minimum contents, and it is specific. A plan that misses any of these is not an approved plan.

• Names, contact details and responsibilities of the contractor, inspection authority, waste transporter, disposal site and client
• Name and contact details of the asbestos removal supervisor for that site
• Location, type, estimated quantity and condition of the asbestos to be removed
• A list of employee names and ID numbers, with proof of valid asbestos training and medical surveillance for each
• Expected start and completion dates
• The air monitoring method and how often it will be done
• Removal methods, tools, equipment and the personal protective equipment to be used
• Decontamination facilities and procedures, for the area, the tools and the people
• Demarcation, labelling and signage for regulated areas, waste and temporary storage
• Emergency procedure for an uncontrolled asbestos release
• How the waste will be disposed of, and how clearance will be certified

It must carry signatures, including the client accepting their own duties. That signature is what stops a client later claiming they knew nothing about it.

What is outright banned

Regulation 24 is a list of things no person may do, whatever the job and whatever the client wants. Several of them are exactly how asbestos sheeting gets handled on ordinary sites.

• No angle grinders. No electrical power tools or fast-moving equipment to cut, grind or drill asbestos-containing material.
• No compressed air to blow asbestos dust off any surface or any person.
• No cleaning or preparing the surfaces of asbestos cement materials.
• No selling, donating, reusing, reinstalling or recycling asbestos or asbestos-containing material. The old sheets do not go to a neighbour’s shed.
• No ordinary vacuum. Only equipment filtering at least 99% of particles one micrometre in size.
• No storing waste for more than three months after removal, and never uncovered or where it can contaminate ground or water.
• No eating, drinking or smoking in a regulated asbestos area.
• No demolition until all asbestos has been identified in the inventory and safely removed or controlled.

People, air and paperwork

• The exposure limit is 0,1 regulated asbestos fibres per millilitre of air, measured in accordance with HSG 248. Air monitoring under regulation 16 is how you prove you are under it.
• Medical surveillance is compulsory if you are registered as an asbestos contractor. An occupational medicine practitioner must document the system, and every employee needs an initial health evaluation before asbestos work starts — medical, occupational, exposure and social history, a physical examination, a chest radiograph, and anything else the practitioner considers necessary, including fitness to wear a respirator.
• Records are kept for 50 years. Inventories, risk assessments, air monitoring results, medical surveillance reports, disposal certificates and clearance certificates. Personal medical records go only to an occupational health practitioner.
• If you stop doing asbestos work, those records must be handed over or sent by registered post to the Chief Director: Provincial Operations. You do not simply close the file.

The clearance certificate

After type 2 or type 3 work, the approved inspection authority must do a thorough visual inspection of the area, take air samples against the clearance indicator, confirm all asbestos waste has gone in line with regulation 21, and issue a written declaration for clearance certification.

This is the document the client actually wants, and it is also the one that protects you. Without it there is no record that the site was left safe.

What happens if you ignore this

Regulation 25 makes a contravention of regulations 3 to 24 a criminal offence. On conviction: a fine or imprisonment of up to 12 months. For a continuing offence, an extra R500 for every day it continues, or an extra day of imprisonment per day, capped at 90 days.

This is not an administrative penalty that gets negotiated down. It is a conviction, and it attaches to the person as well as the business.

Where COIDA fits in

The asbestos regulations and the Compensation Fund are separate systems, and doing one does not cover the other. You still need both.

If you employ anyone, you must be registered with the Compensation Fund, and no main contractor will let you onto a site without a current letter of good standing. Asbestos removal and demolition sit in one of the highest tariff classes, so the assessment behind that letter is not trivial — work it out before you quote, using the free COIDA calculator.

We handle the Compensation Fund side: COIDA registration at R1 290, or the annual letter renewal at R690. We do not handle asbestos contractor registration — that is the Department of Employment and Labour, and this guide is here so you know what to ask them for.

Frequently asked questions