Queensland asbestos audits to target older business premises
17 July 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: WorkSafe QLD
Workplace Health and Safety Queensland (WHSQ) will conduct statewide asbestos compliance audits from 1 August to 31 October 2025. Inspectors will target businesses in buildings constructed before 1990 and premises likely to contain asbestos.
The audits will examine whether businesses meet asbestos management requirements, including whether they have an asbestos register and management plan where asbestos has been identified.
Businesses operating from buildings constructed before 1990 must take appropriate steps to manage asbestos risks. These include keeping a current asbestos register and an asbestos management plan. A workplace code of practice is available to guide compliance.
Inspectors will take enforcement action when they identify non-compliance, including statutory notices and on-the-spot fines.
The campaign supports the Statewide Strategic Plan for the Safe Management of Asbestos in Queensland 2022–2025. The plan aims to prevent exposure to asbestos fibres and eliminate asbestos-related disease in Australia through the identification and effective management of asbestos-containing materials.
The plan also addresses the harmful legacy of asbestos in homes, workplaces and the environment.
During the previous campaign, which ran from August to October 2024, WHSQ assessed 182 businesses. Inspectors issued 23 immediate compliance notices, 151 improvement notices and six infringement notices.
WHSQ is urging businesses to check when their premises were built, noting that asbestos may be present in buildings constructed before 1990.
How Blue Safe can help: Our free WHS self-check can help you review your business’s approach to workplace health and safety and identify areas that may need closer attention ahead of a compliance audit. Take the free WHS self-check