PCB & Hazardous Material Survey (Pre-Demolition) SWMS

A pre-demolition hazardous materials survey is the intrusive inspection and sampling of a building, ahead of demolition or major refurbishment, to find and document asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), lead, synthetic mineral fibre (SMF), mercury and other hazardous materials so they can be removed or managed safely. It can be high risk construction work under the NSW WHS Regulation 2025 where it involves entry to a confined space — ceiling and roof voids, plant rooms, ducts — or a risk of a person falling more than 2 m (s291), so a SWMS is mandatory under s299 in those cases. The character of the work creates its own hazard: the survey deliberately disturbs suspect materials to sample them, so the surveyor is the first person to break into materials that may be asbestos, lead paint, or PCB-containing, often in a vacant, deteriorated building with unknown structural condition and unverified services. Asbestos exposure during sampling is the core hazard, controlled at the source with minimal disturbance, wetting and respiratory protection. Around it sit falls into and through degraded floors and voids, confined-space atmospheres in sealed spaces, structural instability in a building stripped of occupancy maintenance, and the chance of live but unmarked services. The SWMS controls intrusive sampling, confined-space and height access, and the personal exposure of the surveyor, with SafeWork NSW as the regulator and the asbestos provisions of the WHS Regulation governing any asbestos found.

Hazards identified

7 hazards covered, sorted by priority.

Control measures

Hierarchy-of-controls order: elimination → substitution → isolation → engineering → administrative → PPE.

1. 1Elimination — Use existing records, drawings and non-intrusive detection first so the number of intrusive samples is minimised
2. 2Substitution — Substitute presumptive identification (assume-and-manage) for sampling on clearly friable or high-risk materials, removing the need to disturb them
3. 3Engineering — Minimal-disturbance sampling with wetting, local capture and immediate sealing of each sample point
4. 4Engineering — Temporary access platforms, crawl boards and edge protection for voids and degraded floors
5. 5Engineering — Atmospheric testing and ventilation before entry to any sealed void, duct or plant room
6. 6Administrative — Survey plan and a structural and services risk assessment of the vacant building before access
7. 7Administrative — Confined space entry permit where voids are entered, and isolation/proving-dead of services before disturbance
8. 8Administrative — Asbestos sampling procedure and a register of materials found, with licensed handling of any asbestos disturbed
9. 9PPE — P3 respiratory protection and disposable coveralls for sampling, upgraded to air-supplied for friable asbestos work
10. 10PPE — Fall-arrest harness for void and floor-edge work, plus helmet, gloves and eye protection

Applicable Codes of Practice

High-Risk Construction Work triggered

Worked example

At 8:00 am a hazardous-materials surveyor from Strata Hazmat enters a vacant 1970s office block scheduled for demolition. Before climbing anywhere, she reviews the structural and services risk assessment: floors are sound but two ceiling voids are sealed and the power was disconnected only at the main, so all services are treated as potentially live. She works to a sampling plan that uses old drawings to limit how many materials she has to break into. Suspected friable pipe lagging in the plant room is presumed asbestos and recorded as assume-and-manage rather than sampled, so it is never disturbed. Where a sample is needed from cement sheet, she wets the point, takes a minimal piece, and seals it immediately, in a P3 respirator and coveralls. To reach a sealed ceiling void she opens an access panel, tests the atmosphere, ventilates, and only then enters on a crawl board under a confined-space permit with an attendant outside. A capped wire she finds is treated as live until proven dead. Every material found goes into the hazardous-materials register that will drive the licensed removal before demolition.

Related legislation

• WHS Act 2011 (model)
• WHS Regulation 2025
• Demolition Work Code of Practice
• How to Manage and Control Asbestos in the Workplace Code of Practice