Home owners and volunteers cleaning up after the Horsham North tornado are being warned to be careful of exposure to asbestos.
The storm, which was officially labelled a tornado by the Bureau of Meteorology severely damaged homes in Horsham's north.
Gusts reached upwards of 177 kilometres per hour just before 1am on Monday morning.
Key points
- Asbestos totalling less than 10 m² can be disposed of by the homeowner at Dooen Landfill as long as removal is done safely
- Larger quantities of 10m² or more will need to be done by licenced asbestos removalist (no way around this) – details for removalists are on the Worksafe website (link at bottom)
- If homeowner is removing the asbestos, then the asbestos must be:
- Only handled with appropriate PPE, such as a P2 face mask and sturdy gloves
- Kept damp to reduce dust
- Packaged in two layers of 0.2 mm thick polythene sheeting (aka builders plastic), which is then to be sealed with adhesive tape and labelled with "CAUTION ASBESTOS".
- Transported safely and securely to an EPA licenced facility. The two closest are Dooen Landfill and Stawell Landfill. These sites will require prior notification.
Asbestos Safety Guide(PDF, 7MB)
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