On 15 December 2023 the federal Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency (ASEA) was given new silica functions and renamed the Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency (ASSEA). For Australian PCBUs (persons conducting a business or undertaking), the change is more than a new acronym: one national agency now coordinates, monitors and reports on national action against both asbestos and silica-related disease, under two companion national strategic plans. ASSEA is not a regulator. It does not issue licences or enforce work health and safety laws; that remains the job of each state and territory WHS regulator.
If you manage commercial property, run a construction business, or hold WHS responsibilities for a workforce that handles building materials, the expanded mandate will shape what auditors, insurers, and state regulators expect to see in your systems over the next five years.
Why the agency was expanded
The change was made by the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023. It came amid years of escalating concern about accelerated silicosis among engineered stone workers, the same concern that led to the national ban on the use, supply and manufacture of engineered stone benchtops, panels and slabs from 1 July 2024. The aim was to give silica the same national coordination, data and awareness focus that ASEA had provided for asbestos since it was set up in 2013.
Rather than creating a separate silica body, the existing agency was extended. That decision matters because it reflects a regulatory view that asbestos and silica share enough characteristics (long-latency disease, dust-driven exposure pathways, and complex supply-chain risks) to justify a common management approach.
What the new national strategic plans cover
There are now two companion plans, both endorsed by the Commonwealth and all state and territory governments in late 2024: the Phase Three Asbestos National Strategic Plan 2024–2030, which builds on the two earlier asbestos plans, and the new Silica National Strategic Plan 2024–2030. Under the ASSEA Act, the asbestos plan focuses on identifying asbestos and preventing exposure (including prioritised safe removal and effective waste management), awareness, research and national data, and international collaboration. The silica plan has parallel priorities:
- Eliminating or minimising exposure to respirable crystalline silica in workplaces
- Improving awareness of silica safety and silica-related diseases
- Improving research and national data on silica safety and silica-related diseases
- Facilitating international collaboration on silica safety
For PCBUs, the practical effect is that the questions an auditor asks about your asbestos register, removal procedures, and training records are increasingly likely to come paired with equivalent questions about silica: what's the cutting and grinding being done on site, what controls are in place, are workers in health monitoring schemes.
How this affects your existing asbestos obligations
None of your current obligations under the model Work Health and Safety Regulations have been weakened. If anything, the expanded agency lifts the visibility of asbestos enforcement because ASSEA now reports annually on progress under both the asbestos and silica plans. The substantive duties remain familiar:
- Identifying asbestos or asbestos-containing material at workplaces built before 31 December 2003
- Maintaining an up-to-date asbestos register and management plan
- Using licensed removalists for licensed (Class A and Class B) removal work, and a licensed asbestos assessor for air monitoring and clearance after Class A work
- Notifying the relevant state or territory regulator before licensed removal begins
- Providing worker training proportionate to the risk
What's changed is the expectation that these processes sit inside a broader hazardous-dust management system, not in an isolated asbestos silo.
Practical steps for PCBUs over the next 12 months
Treating the ASSEA transition as a procedural rename is the most common mistake we're seeing. The PCBUs that will benefit most are the ones using this period to harmonise their dust-hazard documentation. Consider the following:
1. Audit your management plan for cross-hazard coverage
Your asbestos management plan probably already addresses identification, signage, training, and emergency procedures. Review whether the same plan, or a sister document, captures equivalent silica controls for any cutting, drilling, polishing, or demolition work. Auditors increasingly expect to see one integrated dust-hazard framework rather than two parallel ones.
2. Refresh worker training content
If your asbestos awareness training was last refreshed before mid-2024, it almost certainly doesn't reference the ASSEA framework, the engineered stone ban, or updated silica exposure standards. Refreshed training is a low-cost, high-visibility compliance signal.
3. Check that procurement and contractor onboarding cover both hazards
When you engage a removalist, surveyor, or general builder, your contractor pre-qualification process should now include questions about silica controls (water suppression, on-tool extraction, RPE) alongside the standard asbestos licensing and SWMS checks.
4. Re-read your insurance schedule
Ask your broker whether silica exposure controls matter for your cover. If your asbestos register is the only dust-hazard document you can produce, it is worth checking how your policy treats silica-related claims.
What's coming next
The two national plans point to areas worth watching: asbestos in imported products, prioritised safe removal of ageing asbestos from buildings, and silica exposure beyond engineered stone, such as in construction, tunnelling and stonemasonry. If your business touches any of these, treat the plans as a guide to where national attention is heading.
The agency rename was the easy part. The harder, more consequential shift is that asbestos compliance is no longer a standalone discipline. It's the senior partner in a broader dust-hazard regime, and the businesses that adapt first will spend less time defending their systems when the regulator comes knocking.