When asbestos stops your site
Found something suspicious during demolition, renovation or excavation? Don’t leave the site at a standstill for days waiting on an expert. An unexpected asbestos find can stop a project dead, trigger industrial disputes, and put your workers and contractors at risk.
Call Airsafe and we’ll get an asbestos consultant on site fast – usually within hours. We identify what you’re dealing with, test it in our own NATA-accredited lab, monitor the air, and give you a clear plan to manage it and keep the job moving. The aim is simple: get you back to work safely, without the cost and time blowouts a find like this can cause.
A building site closed due to an asbestos emergency
After a fire, flood or storm
Bushfires, floods and severe storms wreck buildings – and a lot of older Australian buildings contain asbestos. Once fibro, roofing, insulation or other asbestos materials are burnt, broken or water-damaged, they can release fibres that were never a problem while the material was intact and sealed.
If a disaster has damaged a property that may contain asbestos, get advice before you start the clean-up. Airsafe can assess the site, monitor the air, and tell you plainly what’s safe, what isn’t, and what needs to happen before anyone moves back in. Just call us on 1300 888 338.
What Airsafe does in an emergency
- Gets a consultant to site fast and works out what you’re actually dealing with
- Tests suspect materials in our own NATA-accredited laboratory, with same-day results when it’s urgent
- Monitors the air to measure the real risk to workers, residents and neighbours
- Advises on safe containment and clean-up, and writes the plan
- Monitors the air during removal
- Inspects and certifies the site as clear before anyone moves back in
Airsafe doesn’t remove asbestos itself – that’s licensed work – but we manage the whole process around it and bring in removalists we’ve worked with for years. You get one team coordinating the lot.
Why call Airsafe first
Since 1988 we’ve handled asbestos on building sites, in homes, and across government, industrial and commercial properties right through NSW. We’re based in Sydney but set up to move fast: in the city we’re often on site within hours, and for interstate emergencies we mobilise quickly, with travel built into the quote.
Our own NATA-accredited lab means results come back fast and carry legal weight. And our consultants are the calm, practical sort – they get stalled sites moving again and everyone back to work, with the right boxes ticked. Just call us on 1300 888 338.
From our case files: bushfire recovery on the NSW coast
After the 2019 bushfires, Airsafe spent months helping damaged properties recover. We worked from the far south coast up to the mid north coast, on jobs that ran from a couple of weeks each to programs that stretched across the better part of a year. The properties ranged from houses to small industrial sites, for private owners, insurers and government bodies.
A lot of the buildings the fires touched contained asbestos, so our role was the one we play in any emergency. We wrote the remediation scopes, identified the hazards (asbestos and the other contaminants a fire leaves behind), monitored the air while the work was done, and ran the clearance inspections and validation sampling at the end. We worked alongside the contractors, insurers and asset owners through the critical stages, so the hazardous materials were dealt with properly and every job was signed off by independent monitoring and inspection.
One job in Taree was a reminder that asbestos isn’t always where you expect it. As old power poles were replaced, naturally occurring asbestos turned up in the ground at the piling sites for the new poles – nothing to do with the fire, just there in the soil. We identified it and managed it like any other find.
By the end, owners, insurers and the governing bodies had what they needed: properties made safe, compliantly, and fit to move back into.
4.9 stars across 640+ genuine Google reviews.
“I had a contractor working at my home removing bathroom sheeting, which he said didn’t contain asbestos. This went against my gut feeling and I took a sample and delivered it to Airsafe for testing at ~11am today. The report came back at ~4pm (same day) positive for asbestos. The report was clearly written, but under the circumstances, I asked to discuss it with lab staff, which happened in minutes and clarified everything. Plans are now in place for an environmental clean up tomorrow at the contractor’s expense. Great result and service (and I’m still waiting for a competitor to return my call). Thanks Airsafe.”– Malcolm Stephen
Frequently asked questions
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Stop work in the area, keep people away from it, and don’t disturb it any further. Then call Airsafe on 1300 888 338 – we’ll talk you through it and get a consultant to site fast.
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In Sydney we can usually have a consultant on site within hours. Across the rest of NSW and interstate we mobilise quickly, with travel built into the quote. Call 1300 888 338 and tell us where you are.
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If the building contained asbestos materials, yes – burnt, broken or water-damaged asbestos can release fibres that were safe while the material was intact. It’s worth getting the site checked before the clean-up starts.
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No – removal is licensed work and we don’t do it. We identify it, test it, monitor the air, write the management plan and certify the site as clear afterwards, and we bring in removalists we trust. You get one team coordinating the whole thing.
In an asbestos emergency, call Airsafe
When time matters, experience counts. Call Airsafe on 1300 888 338 for rapid response across Sydney, NSW and interstate.
