Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288:reg:4:p5
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2013C00288
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 4 (pt 5/11)
Character Range: 129474–132282

with asbestos in soil should be aimed at describing the nature and quantity of asbestos present in sufficient detail to enable a risk management plan to be developed for the current or proposed land use. The management plan should address potential scenarios for the relevant land use(s) whereby asbestos fibres may become airborne and pose a human health risk.

4.7              Basis for health screening levels for asbestos in soil
In 2009, the Western Australian Department of Health (WA DoH) released Guidelines for the Assessment, Remediation and Management of Asbestos-Contaminated Sites in Western Australia (WA DoH 2009). The WA DoH guidelines are based on research published by Swartjes & Tromp (2008), which is based on an extensive database of field and simulation trials using both bound and friable asbestos.  The trial results indicated that a soil level of 0.01% for friable asbestos should keep asbestos fibre levels in air below 0.001 fibres per millilitre (f/ml) and probably to around 0.0001 f/ml. This corresponds to a lifetime risk of 10-6 to 10-5 in the exposed population from airborne asbestos fibres using WHO (2005) risk figures for mesothelioma (WA DoH 2009). The Netherlands (Swartjes & Tromp 2008) apply an investigation level of 0.01% weight for weight (w/w) for fibrous asbestos and 0.1% w/w asbestos for non-friable asbestos (i.e. bound asbestos in sound condition) in soil.

WA DoH has taken a more conservative approach (by a factor of 10) than the Netherlands to take account of the greater dryness and dust-generating potential of many local soils and the practice of treating all forms of asbestos (e.g. crocidolite, amosite, chrysotile and actinolite) as equivalent in terms of human health risk. The WA guidelines apply screening levels of:
    * 0.01% w/w asbestos in soil for ACM (being asbestos in bonded ACM) to residential sites equivalent to land use setting HIL A. Additional criteria are provided for other land uses based on the default exposure ratios of the NEPM (1999)
    * 0.001% w/w asbestos in soil for FA and AF for all site uses.

4.8              Health screening levels for asbestos in soil
Health screening levels for asbestos in soil, which are based on scenario-specific likely exposure levels, are adopted from the WA DoH guidelines and are listed in Table 7.

There are various acceptable means to provide confidence that the soil surface is free of visible asbestos including, but not limited to, multi-directional raking of soil to about 10 cm depth and hand-picking of asbestos fragments or covering with a durable hard cover. The requirement for the soil surface to be free of visible asbestos applies to both assessment and remediation phases.
Refer to sections 4.10 and 4.11 for guidance on determining asbestos concentration in soil and