Asbestos isn't a substance to take lightly. It’s a potentially harmful and hazardous material. If you don't handle asbestos with care, you will regret it.
To remove large quantities of asbestos from a property and dispose of it safely, you must work with a professional extraction expert. You should also be aware of the fact that asbestos is a substance that you cannot casually throw into a skip.
Getting rid of asbestos with care and safety is possible, but knowing the rules is essential. To help you through the process, here’s a guide to the dos and don’ts of asbestos removal.
But first, let’s consider what this most demonic of materials is for a moment...
What is asbestos?
Asbestos is the term for a group of minerals made from microscopic fibres. Before its dangers and health hazards were discovered, asbestos was commonly used in a variety of buildings for insulation, flooring, and roofing. Asbestos typically found in ceilings and walls. It is now banned in Australia.
If asbestos gets into your lungs, it can cause chronic lung problems (some of which can prove fatal) that often crop up years after exposure to the material.
As such, you absolutely must handle asbestos with care.
How to handle and dispose of asbestos
There’s no getting around it: asbestos is dangerous. If you’re facing the prospect of disposing of asbestos, here is how to handle it the right way.
The dos...
Here we cover what you should do when removing or disposing of asbestos:
- Do familiarise yourself with Safe Work Australia’s How to Remove Asbestos Safely’ Code of Practice guide.
- Do wear the right personal protective clothing and equipment.
- Do wet down any asbestos before you carry out extraction and lightly spraying surfaces with water or a 1:10 polyvinyl acetate (PVA) water solution as you work or using low-pressure water from a garden hose (if outdoors). Try to keep the material damp at all times.
- Do pull out any nails before you remove any asbestos for minimal breakage. Lower (not drop) the sheets to the ground with the utmost care.
- Do hire the services of an extraction and removal expert if you're dealing with more than 10 square meters of asbestos. This is a stringent rule which you must adhere to—no compromises.
The don’ts...
Here we cover what you should not do when removing or disposing of asbestos:
- Don't slide one sheet of asbestos over the surface of another, as this is likely to cause friction and release harmful fibres into the air.
- Don’t use power tools to remove, break, or cut asbestos in any way, shape, or form. Doing so is dangerous and will increase the likelihood of fibres entering your lungs.
- Don’t use high-pressure water-based tools or jets to dampen or clean asbestos-clad areas under any circumstances.
- Don’t walk on corrugated asbestos cement roofs if you can avoid it—doing so is incredibly dangerous.
- Don’t throw asbestos into your skip with other materials. This is strictly prohibited. If you want to dispose of asbestos in a skip, you should talk to a provider that will arrange special measures for taking the material away and disposing of it with complete care and compliance. A local skip provider, like us.
If you're working on a commercial or residential project and you've uncovered asbestos—we can help.
While you can't throw or place asbestos in any of our skip bins (regardless of size), if you speak to us directly, we will provide a solution that is safe, compliant, and works for you. We can (and will) make it happen.
With decades of Perth skip hire experience and a range of disposal solutions, we will meet the exact needs of our customers. At Just Skips, we pride ourselves on our personable, can-do approach, and our exceptional customer service.
Whether you have asbestos to remove from a project or property or any other harmful material that doesn’t belong in a traditional skip—talk to us and we will work with you to find a secure, effective, and cost-effective disposal method.
Need a Perth skip service that goes the extra mile? Fill out our form for a fast free quote or
contact us via phone or email to ask us a question. No query is too big or small, so ask away! We look forward to helping you.
