Australia’s history with asbestos is well documented. In the 1950s we were the fourth highest user of asbestos, with over 3000 products that contained asbestos were available here in Australia.

With mining activity starting to take off in the 70s and early 80s, mine site buildings were constructed rapidly, including production buildings, administration, accommodation, catering facilities, utilities and storage.

They used the most available and cost-effective materials of the day, which unfortunately included asbestos. Now many of those buildings are still being used today. It is estimated that there were approximately 240 mines in operation in 1980. Today there would be many new mines and some of the buildings on these sites would have to be replaced. However, there are still thousands of mining buildings scattered around Australia.

As part of their compliance and corporate governance obligations, mining companies must have every single one of these buildings audited by a Licensed Asbestos Assessor every 5 years. In addition, they must maintain an Asbestos Register showing every single building, the location and condition of asbestos in these buildings. It must list any action to repair or remove these deposits. All of this must be made available to any contractors that work on these buildings. However, this presents some logistical challenges with thousands of buildings in remote locations.

To effectively manage such a large portfolio of buildings, it is essential that Asbestos Auditors use the latest technology.

Lupin Asbestos Management is perfect for mining and other remote applications. While it is a web application, when Auditors are out of internet connection, they can still record data on a tablet, either MAC or Android, to include information on asbestos deposit conditions and can still take and mark photographs. When they are back in internet range, the central database is automatically updated.

Importantly, Lupin Asbestos Management provides mining companies with a comprehensive risk assessment of their entire asset portfolio, as well as an extensive range of other reports.

The best thing is that management will have peace of mind that their documentation is fully compliant with statutory regulations.

For further information on Lupin Asbestos Management, call Kristy Titus on 0460 775 591.