Asbestos Businesses in Canterbury, New Zealand

Asbestos in New Zealand is governed by the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016, made under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015. WorkSafe New Zealand enforces the regulations nationally. Since 1 October 2016, importing asbestos-containing products into New Zealand has been illegal. The airborne contamination standard is 0.1 respirable asbestos fibres per millilitre of air averaged over eight hours.

Any Person Conducting a Business or Undertaking (PCBU) must identify asbestos at their workplace and eliminate exposure to airborne asbestos so far as is reasonably practicable. Buildings constructed before 1 January 2000 are presumed likely to contain asbestos. Where asbestos is identified or suspected, the PCBU must prepare and maintain a management plan covering the location and condition of all known or assumed asbestos-containing material, how exposure risks are managed, and procedures for incidents or emergencies. Plans must be reviewed at least every five years. Where multiple PCBUs share a workplace, they must consult, cooperate, and coordinate their asbestos management.

Unlike Australia, where each state has its own regulator and there is a push toward national consistency through ASSEA, New Zealand's asbestos regulations are already national. WorkSafe NZ is the single regulator across the whole country.