Asbestos Cement Pipe Handling and Removal SWMS

Suits civil, water and drainage contractors and licensed asbestos removalists who expose and remove buried asbestos cement pipe. It covers licence and notice checks, service location, exclusion and decontamination, wet excavation, trench support, removal, breakage, wrapping, disposal and clearance. Fibro sheeting removal and general excavation are covered by the separate Asbestos Removal SWMS and Trenching and Excavation SWMS.

Construction work that involves, or is likely to involve, disturbing asbestos is high risk construction work (WHS Regulation s 291(d)), which removing buried asbestos cement pipe does and the excavator is powered mobile plant (s 291(o)), so both items are ticked. Tick the trench item when the trench is deeper than 1.5 m, the energised services item near live cables, and the gas or fuel lines items near those lines.

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

What Is Covered In Our Asbestos Cement Pipe Handling and Removal SWMS?

After the standard pre-start checks, the job steps run from “Plan the job: confirm the pipe, the licence class and the notices” to “Clearance inspection, backfill and records”. The hazards and controls include:

• Airborne asbestos fibres from broken pipe
• Excavator striking and breaking the pipe
• Dust from dry soil and spoil
• Cutting or snapping pipe lengths
• Contaminated soil, water and debris
• Trench collapse
• Striking underground services
• Overhead power lines
• Heavy pipe lifting and manual handling
• Spread of fibres on plant, tools and clothing
• Waste bag or wrapping failure
• Unlicensed work above the 10 m2 threshold

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
• Is carried out in an area at a workplace in which there is any movement of powered mobile plant

Licences, Training and Competency

• Asbestos removal licence held by the removalist: class B or class A for more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos, or its associated dust or debris; class A for friable asbestos (WHS Regulation ss 485 to 487). Up to 10 square metres needs no licence but a competent person trained under s 445 (s 458)
• Each worker on licensed removal: certification in the specified VET course for the class of work, and training in the job’s control plan, kept on record (ss 460, 461)
• Supervisor for licensed removal: present for class A work and readily available for class B work done by more than one person (ss 459, 529)
• Competent person to identify the pipe and to select respirators; samples analysed only by a NATA-accredited laboratory or another laboratory the Regulation allows
• Independent competent person (or, for class A work, an independent licensed asbestos assessor) for the clearance inspection and certificate (ss 473, 474)
• Excavator operator trained and assessed as competent (no high risk work licence class applies to operating an excavator)
• General construction induction training card (white card) and site induction
• Dogging class licence, or higher, for anyone who slings a load or directs a plant operator when the load is out of view (Schedule 19)

Legislation and Codes of Practice Referenced

• Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Qld)
• Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld)
• How to Safely Remove Asbestos Code of Practice 2021
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Excavation Work Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Plant in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Hazardous Manual Tasks Code of Practice 2021
• Managing Risks of Hazardous Chemicals in the Workplace Code of Practice 2021
• Managing the Work Environment and Facilities Code of Practice 2021
• Traffic Management for Construction or Maintenance Work Code of Practice 2008
• How to Manage Work Health and Safety Risks Code of Practice 2021
• Electrical Safety Act 2002 (Qld)
• Electrical Safety Regulation 2026 (Qld): underground electric lines (s 14) and overhead exclusion zones in schedule 2
• Electrical Safety Code of Practice 2020 – Working near overhead and underground electric lines
• Environmental Protection Act 1994 (Qld): transport and disposal of asbestos waste (named in WHS Regulation s 419(3)(e))

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
• 11 job steps for this work, each with its hazards, controls, initial and residual risk scores and the person responsible
• PPE listed for this job: disposable coveralls with hood and cuffs, worn with the legs over the footwear; respiratory protective equipment selected by a competent person, fit-tested and fit-checked each time it is put on
• Emergency arrangements for: pipe breaks or dust is released, trench collapse and damaged service
• 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.