Asbestos Air Monitoring and Clearance Inspection SWMS

For licensed asbestos assessors and competent persons who monitor the air and carry out clearance inspections around asbestos removal. It follows the job from the independence check and paperwork through pump set-up, monitoring before and during removal, entering and leaving enclosures, the visual inspection and the written clearance certificate. The removal work itself is outside it and has its own SWMS.

Item 3 (disturbance of asbestos, WHS Regulation s 291(d)) is pre-ticked: air monitoring before and during removal is testing in connection with the removal (s 289(2)(a)), and assessors work in and around enclosures where asbestos is being disturbed. If your job is only a stand-alone visual clearance inspection of an area that has already been cleaned, and asbestos is not likely to be disturbed, you may untick it; a SWMS is legally required only for high risk construction work (s 299). Tick the confined space item if the enclosure or space is a confined space, and the falls and electrical items where they apply. Air monitoring and clearance for class A removal need an independent licensed asbestos assessor; after class B removal an independent competent person may do the clearance inspection.

New to SWMS? Read What Is A Safe Work Method Statement?

What Is Covered In Our Asbestos Air Monitoring and Clearance Inspection SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Agree the engagement, independence and paperwork” to “Pack up and decontaminate equipment”. The hazards and controls include:

• Breathing in airborne asbestos fibres inside and near enclosures
• Entering and leaving enclosures and decontamination units
• Fibres carried out on PPE, pumps and equipment
• Respirators that leak or fail
• Electric shock and trips from pumps, chargers and leads
• Heat stress, noise and low light inside enclosures
• Working alone or out of contact inside an enclosure
• Slips and falls on wet floors, sheeting and scaffold
• Fibre levels above the action levels
• Enclosure dismantled before the air is clear
• Clearance done by someone who is not independent
• Reoccupying before the written clearance certificate

High Risk Construction Work

These high risk construction work items (WHS Regulation 2011 (Qld) s 291) are already ticked because they are part of this work. Tick any others that apply to your job:

• Involves, or is likely to involve, the disturbance of asbestos

Licences, Training and Competency

• Asbestos assessor licence held by the person doing the air monitoring, clearance inspection or clearance certificate for class A asbestos removal work (WHS Regulation s 489); the licence covers air monitoring during class A work, clearance inspections of class A work and issuing clearance certificates for class A work (Schedule 19 ‘licence holder’)
• For clearance inspections after class B removal work only: an independent competent person, who under Schedule 19 has the knowledge and skills of relevant asbestos removal industry practice and holds a certification for the specified VET course for asbestos assessor work, a tertiary qualification in occupational health and safety, occupational hygiene, science, building, construction or environmental health, or a certification for the specified VET course for class A or class B asbestos removal work (s 473(2)(b))
• Independence: the assessor must not be involved in the removal of the asbestos or in a business or undertaking involved in the removal (Schedule 19, ‘independent’); for a competent person doing a class B clearance inspection, not involved in the removal of that asbestos. If independence is not reasonably practicable, the person who commissioned the work (or the removalist at domestic premises) may apply to the regulator for an exemption (s 473(4))
• Training in the identification and safe handling of asbestos and its control measures for workers who may be involved in asbestos removal or asbestos-related work, with a record kept while the worker does the work and for 5 years after the worker stops working for the PCBU (s 445); health monitoring for workers at risk of exposure (s 435)
• Competent in the membrane filter method for air monitoring, sampling pump set-up and calibration, and in respirator fit-testing and decontamination routines
• General construction induction training card (white card) where the removal is on a construction site, and the site induction
• Licensed electrical worker for any electrical wiring or repairs to the site supply or pumps (Electrical Safety Act 2002 s 55)
• First aid training for the person doing the work, with an adequate number of trained workers on the site (s 42)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld): chapter 8 (asbestos), including ss 473, 474, 475, 476, 477 and 489, and Schedule 19 (independent, competent person, licensed asbestos assessor)
• How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2021 (air monitoring, clearance inspection and Appendix D clearance certificate example)
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Confined Spaces Code of Practice 2021 (if the enclosure or space is a confined space)
• Managing the Risk of Falls at Workplaces Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Noise and Preventing Hearing Loss at Work Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• First Aid in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld): electrical work needs a licensed electrical worker (s 55)
• Guidance Note on the Membrane Filter Method for Estimating Airborne Asbestos Fibres, 2nd Edition, NOHSC 3003 (2005) (as named in the removal code)
• AS/NZS 1716 Respiratory protective devices and AS/NZS 1715 Selection, use and maintenance of respiratory protective equipment (as named in the removal code)

What You Get

• An editable Microsoft Word document (16 A4 landscape pages). Type your business, client and job details once and they fill in on every page, with a space for your logo
• 10 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: respirator chosen for the task by a competent person, usually the same level as the removal workers inside an enclosure; fit-tested, fit-checked and worn from before the first airlock to after the last decontamination step
• Emergency arrangements for: assessor collapses or is injured inside the enclosure and fire or loss of lighting inside the enclosure
• Plus the parts every Work Safety QLD SWMS shares, from the s 291 checklist to the worker sign-on sheet (see the layout in our free SWMS template)

Adjust it for your site, plant and crew, and talk it through with your workers before work starts. Please make sure you read our Disclaimer before downloading this SWMS.

Checked against the Queensland laws and codes of practice listed above. Last reviewed November 2026.