Free era-based asbestos risk indicator for NZ residential renovations. Know when to stop and get a survey before you cut.
This tool flags how likely asbestos-containing materials are in a building, from its age, the work you are doing, and the materials you can see. It exists to make you stop before you cut, not to clear a building.
The build year does most of the work. Before 1990 comes back high — asbestos-containing materials are likely and testing before any disturbance is the recommendation. Between 1990 and 2000 comes back moderate. After 2000 comes back low, though the tool still says asbestos is possible in some imported materials rather than saying it is absent.
The materials list — fibre cement sheet, vinyl floor tiles, roof shingles, textured ceilings, insulation, pipe lagging — and the work type together shape the actions it suggests. Drilling and cutting release fibres in a way that inspection does not, so the same building returns different advice depending on what you are about to do.
There is an unknown option in the materials list, and picking it is a legitimate answer rather than a failure to fill in the form.
A build year is a probability, not a finding. Materials were reused, renovations added later products to older houses, and older products stayed on shelves after they stopped being made. A 1995 house can hold 1970s sheet from a previous job.
The only thing that tells you whether a material contains asbestos is a sample analysed by a laboratory. This tool cannot identify asbestos, and a low reading here is not clearance to start cutting.
What it is good for is the moment before you put a grinder into an unknown sheet — the prompt to get it tested rather than find out afterwards.
This is a prompt to test, not a finding. Have a suspect material sampled and analysed by a qualified laboratory, and work to WorkSafe NZ guidance, before you disturb it.