Every local council in Australia owns and manages multiple buildings in their municipality. These include council offices, sporting facilities, halls, libraries, depots, maintenance workshops, aquatic centres, waste treatment and transfer stations and many more. Even today, many of these buildings would contain asbestos and maybe other hazardous building materials.

Managing these asbestos deposits is imperative so as to not endanger the lives of people who use these facilities, your staff and contractors who conduct work on these buildings.

Managing asbestos in local government buildings is critically important for several legal, health, and financial reasons.

1. Protecting Public Health

• Asbestos exposure causes serious diseases such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.
• Local government buildings—such as schools, libraries, and community centres—are frequented by vulnerable populations including children, the elderly, and employees.
• Ensuring asbestos is safely managed or removed reduces the risk of airborne fibre contamination.

2. Legal and Regulatory Compliance

• Governments are legally responsible for maintaining safe environments under occupational health and safety laws.
• Non-compliance can lead to fines, prosecution, and reputational damage.

3. Asset Preservation and Risk Management

• Poor asbestos management can lead to emergency closures, disruption of services, and costly repairs.
• Proactive management allows local authorities to plan remediation work strategically, avoiding reactive costs.
• It also helps mitigate insurance risks and potential liability claims from employees or the public.

4. Transparency and Public Trust

• Demonstrating responsible asbestos management builds trust with residents, employees, and stakeholders.
• Local governments are held to high standards of accountability and transparency, especially when public safety is involved.

5. Operational Efficiency

• Centralised asbestos management systems ensure that data is accessible and current, enabling informed decisions during maintenance or renovation.
• It helps avoid delays and unforeseen costs during projects involving older buildings.

Whether you use an external asbestos auditor or your own staff to conduct inspections, you need accurate technology to record, store and access information. In addition, it is important that you maintain a risk profile on every one of your buildings and have automatic alerts when action needs to be taken. Importantly, it gives you the peace of mind that your asbestos record keeping is fully compliant with statutory requirements.

Lupin Asbestos Management is sophisticated technology solution that includes a compliant asbestos register, risk assessment functionality, photos and plans, email notifications, lab results, asbestos reports, disposal documentation and work permits. Not only does the Lupin solution manage sites with asbestos but also other hazardous materials such as lead-based paint, synthetic mineral fibres, ozone depleting substances and PCBs.

Lupin Asbestos Management is a proven product that is currently used in many industries such as Oil, Telecommunications, Manufacturing, Retail, State and Federal Governments as well as Utilities.