Blue Mountains City Council develops an Asbestos Management Toolkit for all councils

Blue Mountains City Council has developed an Asbestos Management Toolkit for use by local government authorities throughout NSW.

The toolkit aims to provide local government authorities with strategies and processes to identify, eliminate, manage or minimise asbestos related hazards and risks.

Blue Mountains City Council CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon, during Asbestos Awareness Week, said: “We have developed this Asbestos Management Toolkit for the benefit of all NSW councils. 

“The need to identify and manage asbestos containing material is a challenge faced by councils across NSW. The safety, health and wellbeing of our workplaces and our community is paramount and we must all take the matter of asbestos management seriously.”

The toolkit guides and supports integration of asbestos management into local government workplace systems and procedures. The toolkit highlights information about the responsibilities of a council and includes materials and resources that local government authorities can download and use to support best practice management of asbestos.

The Guide to Asbestos Management for NSW Councils is supported by a suite of procedures, tools, and templates that can be adapted to suit the needs of a wide range of local government authorities in rural, regional, and metropolitan NSW.

The toolkit has been purposely designed to deliver a practical step-by-step guide for councils to embed effective and sustainable asbestos management practices within their local government authority. It provides a five step process for organisations to follow and each step is supported by operational procedures and a suite of templates that can be downloaded and used.

“Blue Mountains City Council is committed to demonstrating strong leadership in this area by recognising the seriousness of asbestos management and investing in a safe and sustainable future for staff, the wider community and the environment,” Dr Dillon said.

The Asbestos Management Toolkit has been uploaded to Council’s website and has been distributed to other councils.

Photo: Blue Mountains City Council CEO Dr Rosemary Dillon and Program Leader of Hazardous Materials Jason Adams.

This information has been produced as part of the Council’s Enforceable Undertaking (EU) with SafeWork NSW. The Council entered into the Enforceable Undertaking after SafeWork NSW alleged that the Council contravened clauses 425(1), 429(2), 479(1), and 445(1) of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. The full undertaking and general information about enforceable undertakings is available at www.safework.nsw.gov.au.