Samples and accredited laboratories

Why looking is not enough

Queensland’s guidance is direct: “You can't tell if a building material contains asbestos just by looking at it.” The national agency agrees that most people cannot tell by sight.

There are clues. Queensland’s list of common locations notes that a product may carry a manufacturer’s stamp or a label saying it contains asbestos, and that some products can be picked out by their age and how likely they are to contain it, in which case they “must then be treated as asbestos materials”. A clue is still not a result.

Gadgets are not a result either. Queensland has issued a safety alert about near-infrared handheld analysers, and its workplace guidance says such an analyser “is not an appropriate test method” for identifying asbestos materials.

What accreditation means

SafeWork NSW explains it in one line: “NATA accreditation is formal recognition that the facility produces reliable technical results.” It adds that NATA’s website lists accredited facilities.

Accreditation is for particular tests, not laboratories in general. Queensland’s rule for workplaces is that samples go to a NATA laboratory “accredited for the relevant test method”, or to a laboratory approved or operated by Workplace Health and Safety Queensland. WorkSafe Victoria’s rule for workplaces is similar: where analysis is needed, it is done by an approved laboratory accredited by NATA or by the scheme under which it was approved.

Those two rules bind workplaces. For a home, Queensland’s guidance points householders to NATA to find a laboratory that analyses building materials, and notes that “there will be fees involved”.

What sits behind one sample line

A single line such as “Sample 01: asbestos detected” stands on a short chain of work. Each link below comes from official guidance.

1. It should be taken by a competent person. Queensland’s guidance says sampling anything you suspect contains asbestos is itself hazardous, should be done only by a competent person and analysed only in accredited laboratories.
2. It can be small. Victoria’s sampling guidance says laboratory analysis needs only a small piece, around the size of a 50 cent coin, so long as it is representative, and that the aim is the smallest sample possible to limit dust.
3. It should be sealed and labelled at once. The same guidance expects the sample to go straight into a sealed container labelled with details such as the date, time, exact location of the material and the site address.
4. The laboratory examines it. Queensland describes this as careful examination under specialised microscopic procedures at a NATA accredited laboratory.
5. The result can carry a reference. Safe Work Australia’s example register, written for workplaces, has a sample number column with the laboratory reference number where a sample was sent for testing.

Victoria’s page sets out further precautions for the person taking a sample, from protective equipment to cleaning up afterwards. Those steps are on asbestos.vic.gov.au’s page on taking samples, which is written for workplaces; they are not repeated here because these notes are about reading the result.

When something was not sampled

A report may treat some materials as asbestos without testing them. That follows the official line: Victoria’s Better Health Channel says material that has not been tested should be treated as though it contains asbestos, and the national agency’s advice for a home is that, if in doubt, you have the material tested or assume it is asbestos.

So an “assumed” row is a cautious reading, not a finding. If it matters to a decision, such as a renovation or a purchase, testing is how it becomes one. What a positive result means for the material’s handling depends on whether it is friable or non-friable.