Asbestos Switchboards in Perth: What Happens When You Upgrade

When a switchboard in an older Perth home needs work, whether that is replacing ceramic fuses, adding RCDs for a sale or lease, or a full upgrade, the panel the board is mounted on often matters as much as the board itself. Building and Energy notes that repair work is often carried out on older homes whose switchboard panels are made from asbestos-containing material. [A]

How do you know if a switchboard has asbestos?

Older asbestos switchboard panels are usually dark brown or black, with a rough, fibrous or wood-like surface, and some have a strong tar smell. Brand names such as Zelemite or Lebah may be stamped on the back. [B] Not every dark panel contains asbestos, and you cannot tell for certain by looking, so the safe approach is to treat an old panel as asbestos unless it has been tested.

The reason for the caution: breathing in asbestos fibres can cause mesothelioma, asbestosis and lung cancer. [A] A panel that is left alone is not the problem. Drilling, cutting or breaking it is.

What WA law says about removing it

WA work health and safety law requires asbestos to be removed by a licensed asbestos removalist, with one exception that matters here: no more than 10 square metres of non-friable asbestos can be removed without a licence. A switchboard panel is non-friable and well under that size, so an electrician who is trained and competent in asbestos removal, and uses safe work methods, can remove it and replace it with a non-asbestos panel. [A]

The fact sheet also sets out how the waste has to be handled: double wrapped, labelled, transported securely and disposed of at a licensed facility, with the work area left free of visible asbestos residue. [A]

How I handle an asbestos switchboard

The law would let me take the panel out myself. I do not. On an upgrade where the panel contains asbestos, or may do, a licensed asbestos removalist removes the old panel first, and then I install the new switchboard, test the installation and issue the Electrical Safety Certificate for the work.

You can check that a removalist holds a current licence through the WorkSafe licence search or the ServiceWA app. [A]

Do you have to replace it?

Not on that basis alone. The question usually comes up because the board needs work anyway:

• Old ceramic fuses. A rewireable fuse cannot be replaced with another rewireable fuse. It has to be replaced with a circuit breaker, which on an old board often means a new board. [A]
• Selling or renting. WA requires at least two RCDs protecting all power point and lighting circuits before a home is sold or leased. See RCD safety switch installation.
• No room for more. Air conditioning, an induction cooktop or an EV charger often needs circuits an old board cannot take.

For what a full upgrade involves, see when to replace your switchboard and switchboard upgrades in Perth. The Spearwood switchboard upgrade is a recent example of an old board replaced with an RCBO on every circuit.

Common questions

Sources

1. Building and Energy, Switchboard panel repair work and asbestos safety (fact sheet, August 2024). www.wa.gov.au
2. NT WorkSafe, Electrical switchboard panels and meter panels containing asbestos. worksafe.nt.gov.au