Background
Asbestos-containing materials were commonly used in buildings before the 1990s. If you are thinking of undertaking any repairs, renovation or demolition work in a house built prior to 1990, ensure that you are aware of where asbestos may be present. Asbestos can also be found in certain types of machinery.
Your legal responsibilities for finding and identifying asbestos will depend on whether you are:
Choose from the categories above to work out what you need to do when working with asbestos.
Or, use the Finding & identifying asbestos tool to find out about the likelihood, location and type of asbestos-containing products in your home or workplace.
Asbestos test
You can't tell if a material contains asbestos just by looking at it. Only scientific testing of a sample can confirm this.
An asbestos sample must be tested by an asbestos laboratory approved by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA).
A competent person should collect the sample for you. People that can do this are professional occupational hygienists, licensed asbestos removalists or a NATA accredited asbestos laboratory.
As a general rule:
Updated