Why Ignoring Asbestos Could Cost You Your Health

Asbestos was once called the miracle mineral. Cheap, abundant, fireproof, and endlessly versatile, it was built into the walls, ceilings, roofs, and floors of millions of Australian homes between the 1940s and the 1980s. Today it is a confirmed carcinogen with no known safe level of exposure, responsible for an estimated 4,000 Australian deaths every year. And yet it is still in one in three Australian homes, waiting quietly for the moment it is disturbed. At Total Asbestos Removal Brisbane, we have seen the consequences of ignored asbestos firsthand. This article is for every homeowner, renovator, and property manager in Brisbane who needs to understand what is actually at stake.

Key Takeaways

• An estimated 4,000 Australians die from asbestos related diseases every year, and 684 new mesothelioma cases were diagnosed in 2024 alone.
• Asbestos is present in an estimated one in three Australian homes, predominantly those built before 1990.
• There is no known safe level of asbestos exposure. Even brief, one off exposure carries a measurable disease risk.
• Asbestos related diseases have a latency period of 20 to 60 years. Exposure today may not manifest as illness until decades from now.
• Professional testing and removal is the only way to manage asbestos safely and legally.

The Scale of the Problem in Australia

According to the Australian Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency, an estimated 4,000 Australians die annually from asbestos related diseases. The most recent data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare recorded 684 new mesothelioma diagnoses in 2024 alone. That is an average of two Australians diagnosed with this cancer every single day. Mesothelioma has the lowest five year survival rate of any cancer, and there is still no cure.

Queensland is particularly affected. The state consistently records some of Australia’s highest mesothelioma incidence rates. For Brisbane homeowners, this is not a remote statistic. It is a risk embedded in the fabric of older residential properties across the city, from Queenslanders and post war fibrous cement homes to mid century brick and fibro constructions that make up significant portions of Brisbane’s residential housing stock.

Why So Many Australians Are Still Being Exposed

Australia banned the use, importation, and exportation of all forms of asbestos in 2003. But banning new use does not remove what was already built. Up to six million tonnes of asbestos containing material is estimated to remain in the built environment across Australia, in homes, schools, hospitals, and commercial buildings. Much of it is ageing, deteriorating, and increasingly likely to release fibres.

The surge in DIY renovation, accelerated significantly during and after the COVID 19 pandemic, has created what researchers describe as a third wave of asbestos exposure. Unlike the first wave (occupational exposure in mining and manufacturing) and the second wave (tradespeople in the construction industry), this third wave catches ordinary homeowners who do not realise that the wall they are drilling through, the floor tiles they are pulling up, or the eaves they are sanding contain asbestos fibres.

Recent data shows that more than a third of mesothelioma cases involve people exposed through home renovation or maintenance. Women and children are now being diagnosed at rates that were not historically seen, precisely because residential exposure does not discriminate. You do not need to work in a mine or a factory to be harmed by asbestos. You need only to open a wall in the wrong house without knowing what is in it.

What Asbestos Does to the Human Body

Asbestos fibres are microscopic. They are 50 to 200 times thinner than a human hair and completely invisible to the naked eye. When asbestos containing material is disturbed, cut, drilled, sanded, or broken, these fibres become airborne. Once inhaled, they cannot be expelled. They travel deep into the lungs and lodge in tissue, where they cause progressive cellular damage over years and decades.

The diseases caused by asbestos exposure are severe, irreversible, and frequently fatal:

Mesothelioma

Mesothelioma is a cancer of the mesothelium, the thin membrane lining the lungs, chest cavity, abdomen, and other organs. It is caused almost exclusively by asbestos exposure. It has a latency period of 20 to 60 years and is almost universally fatal. By the time symptoms appear, which typically include persistent chest pain, shortness of breath, and fluid accumulation around the lungs, the disease is usually advanced. There is no cure.

Asbestos Related Lung Cancer

Asbestos related lung cancer is distinct from mesothelioma and occurs more frequently. Research indicates the incidence of asbestos related lung cancer is two to six times higher than mesothelioma among people with asbestos exposure history. Smoking in combination with asbestos exposure multiplies the lung cancer risk dramatically, by a factor of 10 to 100 times compared to non smokers without asbestos exposure.

Asbestosis

Asbestosis is a progressive, non cancerous scarring of the lung tissue caused by the accumulation of asbestos fibres. It develops after prolonged or heavy exposure. Symptoms include worsening breathlessness, a persistent dry cough, chest tightness, and fatigue. The lung damage caused by asbestosis is permanent and irreversible. There is no treatment that reverses the scarring, only management of symptoms.

Pleural Plaques and Pleural Thickening

These are thickened or hardened areas of the pleural lining, which is the membrane surrounding the lungs. They are the most common sign of asbestos exposure and, while not cancerous themselves, indicate significant past exposure and an elevated risk of developing more serious asbestos related disease. They can also reduce lung function and cause discomfort.

Laryngeal and Ovarian Cancer

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has confirmed a causal link between asbestos exposure and cancers of the larynx and ovaries. These are less commonly discussed in the context of asbestos but represent real and documented risks.

The Danger of the Latency Period

One of the most insidious aspects of asbestos related disease is the gap between exposure and illness. Mesothelioma typically appears 20 to 60 years after the initial asbestos exposure. The median age of diagnosis in Australia is 77 years old. This means that Australians who are receiving a mesothelioma diagnosis right now were likely exposed in the 1960s, 1970s, or 1980s.

This long latency creates a dangerous illusion of safety. Someone who cuts through an asbestos wall today, inhales fibres, and feels nothing wrong will quite naturally assume they were not harmed. They will not know for 20, 30, or 40 years whether that exposure has triggered disease. By the time the illness presents, it is almost always at an advanced and incurable stage.

The World Health Organization states clearly that there is no known safe level of exposure to asbestos. No threshold has been identified below which cancer will not occur. This is not a precautionary caveat. It is a statement based on decades of epidemiological research. Even brief, single event exposure to airborne asbestos fibres carries a measurable risk.

Where Asbestos Hides in Brisbane Homes

Brisbane’s housing stock contains a particularly high concentration of older homes because the city’s growth accelerated in the post war period, precisely the era in which asbestos use was at its peak. Any property built before 1990 should be treated as potentially containing asbestos containing materials until testing proves otherwise.

Common locations for asbestos in Brisbane homes include:

• Fibrous cement wall sheeting, both interior and exterior, used on Queenslanders, post war homes, and kit homes.
• Eaves, soffits, and fascia boards, particularly on homes built between 1945 and 1980.
• Roofing materials including corrugated fibrous cement roofing and ridge capping.
• Fencing, particularly the flat sheet style common in older Brisbane properties.
• Floor tiles and the adhesive used to bond them, often black or dark mastic adhesive underneath vinyl tiles.
• Pipe lagging and insulation around hot water systems, boilers, and roof space pipes.
• Textured ceiling coatings such as acoustic or popcorn ceilings applied before 1990.
• Insulation materials in wall cavities, particularly vermiculite insulation.
• Textured or stippled paint applied to external walls.

You cannot identify asbestos by looking at a material. The only way to confirm the presence of asbestos is laboratory testing of a sample taken under controlled conditions. Do not assume that because a material looks intact or old that it does not contain asbestos.

Why DIY Removal Is Genuinely Dangerous

Every year, Australian homeowners expose themselves and their families to asbestos fibres during renovations that seemed routine. Drilling a hole through a fibrous cement wall. Sanding down old floor tiles. Breaking up a fence before replacing it. Cutting out a section of ceiling. These are ordinary tasks that turn into asbestos exposure events because the homeowner did not know what the material contained.

In Queensland, homeowners may legally remove up to 10 square metres of non friable bonded asbestos themselves, but this allowance requires following strict safety protocols that most people are not equipped to meet. Incorrect removal without appropriate respiratory protection, containment, and disposal creates risks not only for the person doing the work but for family members, neighbours, and future occupants.

Friable asbestos, which is loosely bound and can release fibres when handled, must be removed by a licensed removalist regardless of quantity. Any area exceeding 10 square metres requires a licensed contractor. Our residential asbestos removal service covers the full scope of residential removal work safely, legally, and completely, including all containment, removal, packaging, and certified disposal.

The Legal and Financial Consequences of Ignoring Asbestos

Beyond the health consequences, ignoring asbestos and failing to implement proper asbestos management creates real legal and financial exposure for property owners.

Property sellers in Queensland have obligations to disclose known hazards to buyers. A property with undisclosed and unmanaged asbestos can become the subject of disputes, compensation claims, and legal action after sale. For landlords, the presence of deteriorating asbestos in a rental property creates occupational health and safety obligations that, if unmet, carry significant liability.

Builders and tradespeople have a duty under Work Health and Safety legislation to identify asbestos before beginning work on older structures. Work that disturbs asbestos containing materials without proper identification, notification, and safe work methods is a serious regulatory breach with penalties for both the worker and the person who engaged them.

For commercial and industrial property owners, the obligations are even more stringent. An asbestos register is required for any workplace where asbestos containing materials are present or likely to be present. Our commercial asbestos removal service and asbestos consultation service help commercial and industrial operators understand and meet their obligations.

What Professional Asbestos Removal Involves

Professional asbestos removal is not simply taking out material. It is a controlled process designed to prevent fibre dispersal at every stage. A licensed removal team begins with site inspection, identification, and where required, sampling for laboratory testing. The work area is prepared with appropriate containment, air monitoring, and sealing. Removal is carried out using correct personal protective equipment, wet methods to suppress dust where applicable, and hand tools rather than power tools that generate more fibre release. Waste is double bagged and labelled, transported only by licenced carriers, and disposed of at a facility that accepts asbestos waste legally. After removal, the site is decontaminated and a clearance inspection confirms the area is safe for re occupation.

This process exists because shortcuts create serious risk. A professional job done correctly protects everyone: the removal team, the occupants, the neighbours, and future residents or workers at the site.

Conclusion

Asbestos does not announce itself. It sits quietly in the walls and roofs and floors of older Brisbane homes, waiting to be disturbed. Ignoring it, or treating it as someone else’s problem, is not a neutral decision. It is a decision that has ended lives and continues to do so. If your property was built before 1990, if you are planning any renovation or maintenance work, or if you have any reason to suspect asbestos containing materials in your home or workplace, the right action is to have it professionally identified and managed. Contact us today for a free quote. Our licensed team provides testing, removal, demolition, and consultation services. Do not wait until the problem is unavoidable. Act now, before the exposure happens.

FAQs:

How do I know if my home contains asbestos?

You cannot identify asbestos by looking at it. The only reliable method is laboratory testing of a sample by an accredited facility. If your home was built before 1990, assume it contains asbestos containing materials until proven otherwise. Total Asbestos Removal Brisbane offers professional asbestos testing services across Brisbane to confirm the presence and type of asbestos before any removal or renovation work begins.

Is asbestos only dangerous if you disturb it?

Bonded asbestos in good condition poses a lower immediate risk, but asbestos containing materials deteriorate with age, moisture, and weather. As the binding degrades, fibres can be released even without physical disturbance. Friable asbestos is dangerous even undisturbed. Any material that is damaged, deteriorating, or in a location where renovation is planned should be assessed and removed by a licensed professional.

Can I remove asbestos myself in Queensland?

Queensland homeowners may remove up to 10 square metres of non friable bonded asbestos themselves under strict safety conditions. Friable asbestos of any quantity must be removed by a licensed removalist. Any area exceeding 10 square metres also requires a licensed contractor. Total Asbestos Removal Brisbane holds the appropriate licences and full insurance for all residential, commercial, and industrial asbestos removal work in Brisbane and Queensland.

How long does it take to develop an asbestos related disease?

Asbestos related diseases have a latency period of 20 to 60 years. Mesothelioma has a median diagnosis age of 77 in Australia. Asbestos related lung cancer generally develops 15 to 35 years after exposure. There is no safe level of asbestos exposure, which is why professional removal is always the correct response, regardless of how minor the exposure may have seemed at the time.

What does a professional asbestos removal service include?

A full professional removal from Total Asbestos Removal Brisbane covers site inspection and assessment, testing, work area containment, safe removal with appropriate personal protective equipment, air monitoring where required, correct packaging and labelling of waste, transport and legal disposal at a licensed facility, site decontamination, and clearance certificates where required. We service residential, commercial, and industrial properties throughout Brisbane.