Class A and Class B Asbestos Licences Explained

Two words that determine everything

Australian asbestos regulation turns on a single distinction: whether the material is friable or non-friable.

Non-friable asbestos is bonded into a solid matrix. Asbestos cement sheeting — fibro — is the classic example, along with corrugated roof sheeting, vinyl floor tiles and some adhesives. While intact and undamaged, it does not readily release fibres. This is the overwhelming majority of what exists in Illawarra housing.

Friable asbestos can be crumbled, pulverised or reduced to powder by hand pressure when dry. Pipe and boiler lagging, some sprayed insulation, and certain older industrial products fall here. It releases fibres far more readily and is treated far more strictly.

Deteriorated non-friable material can become friable. A fibro sheet that has been weathering for fifty years, is cracked and flaking, is not the same proposition as one in sound condition — which is why a survey reports on condition, not just presence.

The licence classes

NSW licences asbestos removal separately from other construction work, and in broad terms:

• A Class A licence covers the removal of both friable and non-friable asbestos.
• A Class B licence covers non-friable asbestos only.

There are also thresholds above which licensed removal is required rather than optional, and they differ between the two material types.

Because the class needed depends on what is actually present, the order is fixed: survey first, then engage the removalist whose licence covers what the survey found. Engaging a removalist before knowing what is there is how a job stops halfway.

What this means on a typical Illawarra house

Most residential demolition in this region involves non-friable material — fibro cladding, eaves, roof sheeting, bathroom linings, fencing. A Class B licence generally covers that work.

Friable material is less common in housing but not absent, particularly around old heating systems, in some pre-war construction, and where non-friable material has badly deteriorated.

The practical consequence: do not assume. The survey tells you, and the survey is what the removalist quotes from.

How to check a licence in thirty seconds

The NSW asbestos and demolition licence register is public. Search a licence number or a business name and it returns the holder, the licence type and class, the status, and the expiry date.

That is worth doing every time, for two reasons. It confirms the licence exists. And it confirms it is current — an expired licence looks identical on a quote to a valid one.

We apply the same standard to ourselves. Demolition work arranged through this site is carried out by A.C.N. 670 293 875 Pty Ltd, trading as Civillink Logistics, holder of NSW demolition licence AD214819, and you can check that number on the same register. We would rather you did.

The distinction we will not blur

A demolition licence and an asbestos removal licence are separate authorisations. Holding one says nothing about the other.

We hold a demolition licence. We do not hold an asbestos removal licence, we do not claim to, and asbestos removal on jobs arranged here goes to a separately licensed asbestos removalist. That is stated on the asbestos service page and in the disclaimer, and it will not change for commercial convenience.

Questions worth asking a removalist

1. Which licence class do you hold, and what is the number?
2. Does it cover the material identified in my survey?
3. Is the licence current? (Then check it yourself.)
4. What controls will be in place — exclusion zones, signage, decontamination?
5. Will there be a clearance, and will I receive the certificate?
6. Where does the waste go, and will I get the disposal documentation?

Any legitimate operator answers all six without hesitation. Hesitation on any of them is information.

Why the class question comes up on ordinary houses

People assume licence classes are an industrial concern. They are not — the question lands on suburban Illawarra houses regularly, for two reasons.

Deterioration. Non-friable material that has weathered badly for decades can become friable. A fibro shed with cracked, flaking, crumbling sheeting is not the same proposition as sound cladding on a maintained house, and the survey reports on condition precisely because it can change which class of licence is required.

Fire and impact damage. Asbestos cement that has been through a fire, or been struck, can be friable at the damaged areas even where the rest of the sheet is intact.

So the class needed is not simply a function of what the material is. It is a function of what condition it is in, which is another reason the survey has to precede the quote rather than follow it.

The removal itself, briefly

Knowing what happens during a licensed removal helps you tell a properly run job from a careless one, even without technical knowledge.

Expect an exclusion zone with signage and barriers, sized to the work. Expect the material to be kept wet or otherwise controlled so fibres are not released, and removed whole where possible rather than broken up. Expect double-wrapped, labelled waste, not loose sheeting in an open bin. Expect decontamination arrangements for the workers.

For friable work, expect considerably more — full enclosures, negative pressure, and air monitoring by an independent licensed assessor.

If you turn up and see fibro being smashed with a hammer into an open skip by someone in shorts, that is not a licensed removal regardless of what the quote said.

The short version

Non-friable material, sound condition, ordinary fibro house: usually Class B territory. Friable material, or badly deteriorated non-friable: Class A. The survey decides, not the quote.

What you should receive at the end

• The survey report that started the process
• The removal documentation, naming the licence holder
• Any clearance certificate required for the work
• Disposal records showing where the waste went

Ask for these at completion rather than assuming they will arrive. Together they are the record of what was on your property and what happened to it — and the next owner's building inspector may well ask to see them.

Keep them with the property documents, not in a folder on a site office that gets thrown out.

One more reason to check rather than assume

Licences expire. A removalist who held a current Class B licence when you first spoke to them in March may not when the job runs in July, and nothing on their quote or their van will tell you that.

The register shows the expiry date alongside the status. Checking takes half a minute and it is the only way to know you are looking at a current authorisation rather than a historical one.

Where this fits in the job

Survey, removal, clearance, then general demolition. Asbestos in Illawarra homes covers why the region has so much of it and where it hides.

Call 02 4214 4202 or send the property details through.