Department of Agriculture and Food WA
DAFWA accepts the recommendations to improve its asbestos management processes. It has already completed outstanding annual inspections and will implement other recommendations during the next round of review audits in 2015/16.
Department of Corrective Services
The Department of Corrective Services (DCS) welcomes the audit and will take this opportunity to consolidate its current collegiate approach, building upon and further enhancing the relationships with BMW and WorkSafe.
Consolidation of this approach will improve our policies, procedures and the standard of documentation with regards the management of asbestos containing materials (ACM) at all owned or leased premises. Furthermore, DCS is committed to ensuring staff, clients and guests have a safe and healthy environment in which to occupy or visit. Over the next four years, some $7 million has been allocated to effectively manage asbestos related inspection and remediation works.
DCS considers that it would be beneficial to obtain more specific detailed information about the findings at inspections translated into ACM registers. This will ensure ACM registers are easier to interpret making them meaningful at a local level and accurately conveyed to contractors when remediation works are necessary.
DCS will proactively work to improve our documentation standards, sharing of knowledge across agencies and furthering asbestos awareness across all our sites.
The recommendations highlighted in this report will be addressed by initiatives outlined in DCS’s new strategic plan, Creating Value through Performance.
Department of Education
The Department of Education takes the health and safety of our school communities seriously and accepts the opportunities for improving the management of asbestos materials in our facilities as identified in the audit findings.
Over the past nine months, the Department in conjunction with the Department of Finance – Building Management and Works has been reviewing current practices and procedures relating to asbestos materials. An updated Asbestos Management Plan, revamped Asbestos Register and the introduction of online training for relevant staff are anticipated to be released in June 2015. Issues identified through the audit are being incorporated into the new Asbestos Management Plan.
Department of Housing
The Department of Housing views the safety of its tenants and staff as paramount and is pleased to note that there is no indication in the report that the Department is compromising the health or safety of its tenants or staff.
On 22 January, 2015 the Department’s Corporate Executive approved a new Asbestos Management Plan that deals specifically with the issues raised in this audit.
The Department inspects all its residential properties for general condition and maintenance once every 12 months and inspections of asbestos containing material in houses constructed prior to 1990 are incorporated in that inspection process. The Department has completed a state-wide retraining exercise to ensure that staff conducting inspections are considered competent as defined by WorkSafe.
Specifically, the Department agrees that both access to and the reliability of information related to asbestos containing material needs to be improved. An upgrade to existing information systems has been approved by the Department’s ICT Steering Committee.
The Department’s public housing stock and other residential properties only meet the definition of a workplace while staff are conducting inspections or contractors are completing maintenance work. The assessment of what are reasonable controls need to be seen in that context and the Department is of the view that it has adequate processes in place to manage the level of risk involved. However, compliance with these processes has not been at the level required and will be addressed.
A data verification exercise is underway to establish the validity of the data contained in the asbestos register. The need to update the asbestos register has been reinforced with all frontline staff. The Department’s maintenance contract has specific provisions related to the management and remediation of asbestos containing material.
The Department’s asbestos register database has been upgraded but will be further reviewed in the context of this audit. It should be noted that at the time of audit the Department was implementing its new core system “HABITAT” and this at times impacted on access to the asbestos register.
All maintenance work carried out on residential properties is completed by external contractors under the Department’s maintenance contract. All work orders issued by the Department for properties constructed prior to 1990 contain a direction for the contractor to access the asbestos register prior to commencing work.
All properties sold by the Department constructed pre-1990 are subject to a contract addendum specifically related to asbestos containing material. Overall, the Department is of the view that staff, tenants and contractors have access to a level of information regarding asbestos related material that is consistent with the Department’s duty of care.
All asbestos remediation and removal work is completed by independent contractors under the Department’s maintenance contract. It is a contractual requirement that only properly accredited contractors carry out this work. The Department’s current contractors have confirmed that they obtain clearance certificates where required under legislation.
Disability Services Commission
The Commission acknowledges the Auditor General’s findings and accepts that some improvement can be made to its existing record keeping practices to minimise the risk of exposure to asbestos. The Commission controls 198 properties of which 126 are houses leased from the Department of Housing for its residents with the balance comprising owned properties and leased office accommodation. Twenty two of the houses contain asbestos material in low risk areas, e.g. roof gables, meter boxes and dividing fences. During this audit, the Commission engaged an asbestos consultant to update its asbestos management plan and asbestos register, and to provide a cost estimate for removing all asbestos containing material from its facilities. The process of removing asbestos from all Commission facilities has commenced and will be completed during 2015-16.
Fremantle Port Authority
Fremantle Ports is satisfied with the Audit results
WA Police
WA Police accept the two minor issues raised in your preliminary findings and in response please see the following:
- The asbestos registers generated for WA Police does not allow it to fully understand its asbestos risks.
WA Police have issued a work order to Department of Finance, Building Management and Works (BMW) to tender a higher level asbestos register for all WA Police sites throughout the State. This process will ensure WA Police asbestos registers are complete and comply with relevant legislation. The higher level asbestos register will provide WA Police with more information on the type and condition of asbestos, whilst also assisting WA Police in understanding the reasons for the risk ratings and enable better decision making relating to asbestos risk management.
The results of the tender process will enable WA Police to better understand the cost and expected timeframe for implementation of the higher level asbestos registers throughout the State.
- WA Police does not collate information on costs to manage asbestos risks.
WA Police will commence collating financial information relating to the cost of managing our asbestos risks on our financial management system by creating a separate expense category for asbestos. This will enable WA Police to ascertain the total cost incurred for asbestos management and assist with planning for asbestos risks more effectively.
Department of Finance (Building Management and Works)
The Department of Finance supports the recommendations of the Office of the Auditor General’s (OAG) report and acknowledges the work undertaken by the OAG in preparation of the audit on the “Management of Asbestos Related Risks by Public Sector Agencies”.
The Department is aware of the issues raised by the OAG and will continue to improve the asbestos inspection service provided to agencies through the development of a new panel contract, which will strengthen its management of panel inspectors’ performance.
In relation to improving asbestos information systems, the Department will explore alternative information systems capable of effectively managing the inspection process, which include enough information for agencies to efficiently and effectively track their asbestos risks. In the meantime, any residual risks associated with the information system will continue to be managed.
The Department has already commenced work on the matters raised by the OAG in its report, and considers the development of a new panel and ongoing assessment of the available options for an information systems upgrade will provide a sound base for those recommendations to be addressed.