Insurables — Australian business risk, sourced and dated

Asbestos removalists: public liability requirements in Australia

Cover for legal liability to third parties for personal injury or property damage arising from business activities.

Data as at

Verified requirements, by state

  • Licence liability condition: No public liability condition, but a workers compensation one. SafeWork NSW's asbestos removal licence requirements call for "a workers compensation insurance certificate, if you have employees and are not exempt" — and do not name public liability or professional indemnity insurance. So the position differs from demolition, where a public liability certificate naming the activity is required outright. NSW · effective 2012-01-01 SafeWork NSW · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: A workers compensation insurance certificate at application and at renewal, where the applicant has employees and is not exempt. An applicant with no employees is not asked for one, because the underlying duty does not arise. NSW · effective 2012-01-01 SafeWork NSW · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: SafeWork NSW, under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (NSW) and the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW). Three credentials: a Class A asbestos removal licence, which covers both friable and non-friable asbestos; a Class B licence, covering non-friable only; and a separate asbestos assessor licence for the assessing role rather than the removal. NSW · effective 2012-01-01 SafeWork NSW · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition stated in the licence application requirements located. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Not established beyond the absence of an insurance requirement. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: WorkSafe Victoria, under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004 (Vic) and the OHS Regulations 2017 (Vic) — Victoria licenses asbestos removal under its own legislation rather than the model WHS laws it never adopted. VIC · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Victoria · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition stated. Queensland's asbestos removal licence application deals with training and safety management requirements and does not specify insurance as a licence condition — which differs from New South Wales, where a workers compensation certificate is required from applicants with employees. Two harmonised jurisdictions, two different application requirements. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Training and safety management evidence rather than insurance evidence. QLD · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: Workplace Health and Safety Queensland, under the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 (Qld), through Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences — Class A covering friable and non-friable asbestos, Class B non-friable only. QLD · effective 2012-01-01 WorkSafe Queensland · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition, and this is about as strong as a negative gets: insurance, insured, indemnity and indemnify return zero across the complete Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022, an instrument running to over a million characters that unquestionably contains the whole asbestos licensing scheme. Western Australia imposes no insurance condition on asbestos removal licensing of any class. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-25
  • Licence evidence required: None insurance-related, and no lapse-triggered suspension mechanism tied to insurance. What a principal contractor demands before letting a removalist on site is a separate commercial matter. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Western Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: WorkSafe WA, as the regulator under the Work Health and Safety Act 2020, issues Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences and asbestos assessor licences under the Work Health and Safety (General) Regulations 2022. WA · effective 2026-08-25 Government of Western Australia · 2026-08-25
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition, and the evidence for that is about as strong as a negative gets: the words insurance and indemnity occur nowhere in the entire current Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 — not in the asbestos chapter and not anywhere else in the instrument, which also carries the high risk work licences, plant registration, construction and mining provisions. South Australia does not use its work health and safety licensing to require cover of any kind. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence evidence required: None. There is no insurance requirement anywhere in the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012 for evidence to attach to. What a principal contractor demands before letting a removalist on site is a separate commercial question. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licensing body: SafeWork SA issues Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences under Chapter 8 Part 10 of the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2012, made under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012. SA · effective 2026-08-24 South Australia Government · 2026-08-24
  • Licence liability condition: The confirmed requirement is workers compensation insurance, not public liability. WorkSafe Tasmania states that an applicant for either class of asbestos removal licence must submit a certificate of currency for workers compensation insurance. No public liability condition specific to the asbestos removal licence was located, which does not mean a principal contractor will not demand one before letting you on site. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Tasmania · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: A workers compensation certificate of currency at application, with an exemption for exempt employers. Whether lapse triggers suspension of the licence was not confirmed against the Regulations. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Tasmania · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: WorkSafe Tasmania issues Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences under the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 and the Work Health and Safety Regulations 2022. TAS · effective 2026-08-24 WorkSafe Tasmania · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition, and this is the strongest negative in the ACT estate: the words insurance, insured and indemnity appear zero times across all 753 pages of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011 — an instrument that carries the entire asbestos licensing scheme, high risk work licensing, plant registration and every other Territory work health and safety licence. There is a striking inversion in the parent Act, worth knowing before you buy anything: section 272A prohibits entering into a contract of insurance or other arrangement purporting to cover a monetary penalty under the Act, and makes any such term void. In the ACT you cannot insure a work health and safety penalty at all. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: Competency and systems, never insurance. A Class A application must name one or more competent persons engaged to supervise the removal work, show each supervisor is at least eighteen, provide a copy of the specified vocational certification for each, show each has at least three years of relevant industry experience, and show the applicant has a certified safety management system in place. Class B is the same without the experience and safety management system requirements. No insurance document appears anywhere, and there is no insurance-triggered suspension in the licensing division. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: WorkSafe ACT, as the WHS Commissioner, issues Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences and asbestos assessor licences under Part 8.10 of the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2011. A builder doing building work that involves asbestos removal must hold the removal licence as well. ACT · effective 2026-08-25 WorkSafe ACT · 2026-08-13
  • Licence liability condition: No insurance condition, and the search behind that is exhaustive: the words insurance, insured, indemnity and the phrase workers compensation appear zero times across all 675 pages of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011. Neither public liability nor workers compensation cover is required anywhere in the instrument, let alone as a licence condition. NT · effective 2026-08-25 NT WorkSafe · 2026-08-13
  • Licence evidence required: None in the Regulations. Regulation 492(2) lists what an application must contain and the list is exhaustive: identity, licence class, business registration, declarations about equivalent licences, convictions, enforceable undertakings, prior refusals and prior licence action, plus the fee. A Class A licence additionally needs named competent supervisors, evidence each has at least three years of relevant industry experience, and evidence of a certified safety management system. No insurance document appears among them. The regulator's application form may still ask for one as an administrative matter. NT · effective 2026-08-25 NT WorkSafe · 2026-08-13
  • Licensing body: NT WorkSafe issues Class A and Class B asbestos removal licences and asbestos assessor licences under Part 8.10 of the Work Health and Safety (National Uniform Legislation) Regulations 2011. NT · effective 2026-08-25 NT WorkSafe · 2026-08-13

By state and territory

Licensing is a state matter, so the requirement behind this cover changes at the border. These pages track the licence question in each jurisdiction.

What contracts commonly ask for

Principals and head contractors set their own insurance requirements, and those are frequently higher than a licence condition. The requirement that binds is the higher of the two, and both have to be read from the actual document.

What this cover costs

This site publishes no cost benchmark for this cover. A benchmark needs a real sample of documents, and none is published until the sample is large enough to compute a median honestly. A benchmark from a handful of policies is a guess with a decimal point.

Sources