The model Work Health and Safety Regulations have no legal force of their own. They take effect only as each jurisdiction enacts them, and jurisdictions vary the model. One state never adopted them at all.
Everywhere else on this site, a bare regulation number means the model regulation. Wherever you are actually working, the number that matters is the one in your own jurisdiction’s instrument.
The broad picture
- Most jurisdictions have adopted the model WHS Act and Regulations, generally keeping the model numbering, with local variations.
- Western Australia adopted the model laws relatively recently and keeps the model numbering — but runs a second, separate regime underneath for non-workplace and residential asbestos.
- Victoria never adopted the model laws. Different Act, different regulations, different numbers, different terminology, and in one important respect a stricter rule.
Never describe Victoria as operating “under the WHS Regulations”
It does not. Victoria operates under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 and the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. A Victorian site does not have an “asbestos removal control plan” under reg 464 — it has an “asbestos control plan” under reg 272. Getting that wrong in a tender document or a scope of works is an immediate credibility problem.
Western Australia
WA has adopted the model WHS laws, and critically, the model numbering. The instruments are:
- Work Health and Safety Act 2020 (WA)
- Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022 (WA)
- Work Health and Safety (Mines) Regulations 2022 (WA) — a separate regime for mining operations
- Health (Asbestos) Regulations 1992 (WA) — the non-workplace and residential regime, under the Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1911
WA publishes its own code of practice, How to safely remove asbestos, dated 14 July 2022 and last updated 27 November 2024. WA has not adopted the model code, so where this site quotes the model Code, check the WA edition for WA work.
Substance
- Class A — removal of any amount of friable asbestos-containing material.
- Class A or B — removal of more than 10 m² of non-friable ACM.
- WA does licence assessors. Licensed asbestos assessors conduct air monitoring, clearance inspections and clearance certificates “exclusively for Class A friable removal work”.
- Supervisors — Class A on site, Class B readily available. Units CPCCDE4008 plus CPCCDE3015 (Class A) or CPCCDE3014 (Class B). Statements of Experience required.
- Notification — at least five days before commencement.
- Clearance — required following all licensed removal work, before re-occupation of the removal area.
- Register and management plan required, detailing the type, location and condition of the asbestos.
An apparent inconsistency in WorkSafe WA’s own material. Its law-and-guidance page describes clearance as issued by an “independent competent person” generally, while its licences page confirms assessors act exclusively for Class A friable work. These reconcile as the model position — competent person for Class B, licensed assessor for Class A — but the guidance page’s phrasing is loose and should not be quoted flat.
We do not publish WA homeowner specifics. The WA legislation server would not return the Health (Asbestos) Regulations 1992 for us, so we cannot confirm WA-specific residential rules, area limits, or restrictions on removing asbestos for fee or reward. Note also that at least one WA government page still cites the superseded Occupational Safety and Health Regulations 1996 — stale content that should not be relied on.
Victoria
Victoria runs a genuinely different regime. Asbestos sits in Part 4.4 of the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017. Victoria also uses compliance codes rather than codes of practice — Removing asbestos in workplaces and Managing asbestos in workplaces.
Concordance — model WHS to Victorian OHS
| Concept | Model WHS reg | Victorian OHS reg |
|---|---|---|
| “Independent” definition | within 473 / 474 | 207 — Independent person |
| Unlicensed / limited removal | Code Table 1 | 250 — Limited asbestos removal work |
| Class A removal work | 485 | 264 |
| Class B removal work | 487 | 265 |
| Supervisor appointment | 459 / 529 | 266, 267 |
| Supervisor on site (Class A) | 459 | 285 |
| Removal control plan | 464 | 272 — Asbestos control plan |
| Plan to be kept and available | 465 | 273 |
| Signage and barricades | 469 | 255 (limited work), 277 (licensed work) |
| Decontamination | 471 | 256, 257, 278 |
| Waste containment and disposal | 472 | 259, 260, 279, 280 |
| Air monitoring (Class A) | 475 | 287, 292 |
| Glove bags | within 477 | 289 |
| End-of-removal requirements | 473 | 290, 294 |
| Independent person competence | within 473 | 296 |
| Clearance certificates | 474 | 297 |
| Notification to regulator | 466 | 298; 299 (unexpected situation) |
| Informing others | 467, 468 | 300, 301 |
| Asbestos register | 425 | 227 (workplace); 235 (employer’s) |
| Health monitoring | 435–444 | 262, 263, 282, 283 — medical examinations |
| Asbestos-related work | Part 8.9 (478–484) | Division 8 (302–319) |
The one-hour rule — the biggest cross-border trap
Victoria imposes a cumulative time limit on top of the area limit for unlicensed removal. The model WHS Regulations have no equivalent.
- Non-friable: the area removed must not exceed 10 m² in total, and the work must not exceed one hour of cumulative time in any seven-day period, counted across all employees.
- Asbestos-contaminated dust: an individual removal is limited to ten minutes in total, and the same seven-day cumulative one-hour limit applies.
A job that is lawfully unlicensed in Queensland at 9 m² spread over two days is unlawful unlicensed in Victoria, because it blows the one-hour limit long before it blows the area limit. Any national contractor working across the Queensland–Victoria border needs this in front of them when scoping small jobs.
Victoria also requires unlicensed removal to eliminate exposure to airborne asbestos fibres so far as is reasonably practicable, and WorkSafe Victoria advises that unlicensed removal is generally not recommended.
Victoria has no licensed asbestos assessor class
WorkSafe Victoria’s asbestos removal licence offering is Class A (all friable or specific friable) and Class B (all non-friable or specific non-friable). There is no assessor option, and Part 4.4 contains no assessor licensing division. Instead the work is done by an “independent person”, defined at reg 207, who must have the requisite knowledge, skills and experience under reg 296.
This is an inference drawn from the licence page and the regulation list read together, rather than a flat statement by WorkSafe Victoria. It is well supported, and it is a real structural difference — but confirm it before relying on it commercially.
Where Victoria is tougher
- Class A applicants must provide a current external OHS management system certificate related to asbestos removal. There is no model-WHS equivalent.
- Site supervisors need an RTO-delivered site supervisor training course, at least two years’ experience as a WorkSafe licensed asbestos removalist, and at least six asbestos removal projects in the past two years.
Two Victorian quirks
- Scoped licences. Victoria issues “specific friable” and “specific non-friable” licences where the holder nominates the items covered. No model-WHS equivalent.
- Domestic premises. Where removal is at domestic premises and the licence holder has been engaged by the homeowner, the duty to obtain a clearance certificate is placed on the licence holder — shifted from the person commissioning the work. That is the reverse of the model position.
- The post-2004 installation rule. Where asbestos was installed after 1 January 2004, the owner must notify WorkSafe and agree either to remove it or implement a risk management plan. Premises used solely for residential purposes are excluded.
We could not verify the operative text of Victorian regs 250, 264, 265, 272 and 297; Victoria’s notification period under reg 298 (do not assume five days); or the contents required in a Victorian asbestos control plan under reg 272, which may differ from the model ARCP. The regulation numbers and titles above are solid. The content behind them is verified only where stated.
National coordination
The Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency operates the Asbestos National Strategic Plan, Phase Three, 2024–2030, working with bodies including the Faculty of Asbestos Management of Australia and New Zealand (FAMANZ). It is a coordinating and strategy body — it is not the regulator for any removal job, and it does not issue licences.
The agency was established as the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency under the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency Act 2013 (Cth). That Act has since been amended to extend its remit to silica, and the agency now carries the longer name. Older documents — including some still-current regulator pages — use the former name and the acronym ASEA.
Penalties
We do not publish dollar penalties attached to individual asbestos regulations. We could not retrieve them from the model regulations, and Queensland expresses regulation offences in penalty units rather than dollars — so a figure for, say, failing to prepare a control plan requires reading the penalty units off the Queensland provision and multiplying by the current unit value. Publishing a plausible but unchecked number would be worse than publishing none.
What we can state, because it is published directly by the regulator, is the Queensland WHS Act maximum penalty structure.
| Offence | Body corporate | Individual (PCBU or officer) | Individual (e.g. worker) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Industrial manslaughter | $10 million | 20 years imprisonment | — |
| Category 1 — recklessly endangering a person to risk of death or serious injury | up to $3 million | up to $600,000 or 5 years imprisonment | up to $300,000 or 5 years imprisonment |
| Category 2 — failure to comply with a duty exposing a person to risk of death, serious injury or illness | up to $1.5 million | up to $300,000 | up to $150,000 |
| Category 3 — general failure to comply with a health and safety duty | up to $500,000 | up to $100,000 | up to $50,000 |
Queensland infringement notices run $144–$720 for individuals and $720–$3,600 for businesses. The Queensland penalty unit value is $172.70 from 1 July 2026. And a detail that surprises people: Queensland prohibits insurance covering WHS penalties. A penalty is paid by the entity that incurred it.