Asbestos in meter boards — what Melbourne homeowners need to know

Asbestos in meter boards is not a rare finding in Melbourne. It's a common one. In the eastern suburbs — Box Hill, Blackburn, Mitcham, Doncaster, Ringwood, Vermont — homes built between roughly 1960 and 1984 frequently have it, and most owners have no idea it's there until an electrician opens the board.

This post is about what you're likely to find, why it affects the sequence of the electrical work, and what the process looks like when you need to deal with it.

How asbestos ended up in switchboards

Asbestos-containing materials were widely used in Australian construction until their progressive phasing out from the late 1970s into the 1980s. The total ban on the import and use of asbestos in Australia came into effect in 2003, but the primary period of residential construction use effectively ended in the mid-1980s as substitutes became available and the hazards became clearer.

In meter boards and switchboards, asbestos was typically used as the backing board — the flat sheet material that the electrical components (main switch, fuses, later circuit breakers) were mounted onto. The properties that made it useful were its fire resistance, electrical insulation, and dimensional stability under heat. These are genuinely good properties for an electrical board backing material. The problem is the asbestos fibres that are released when the material is disturbed.

The specific asbestos-containing products used in switchboard and meter board applications varied, but commonly included compressed asbestos cement sheet and asbestos millboard. These are considered bonded (non-friable) ACM in their undisturbed state — the fibres are bound in the cement or compressed matrix and don't release easily. The concern arises when the material is drilled, cut, abraded, or broken, which releases respirable fibres.

What suspect boards look like

The visual indicators of an asbestos-backed board are not definitive — you cannot determine whether a material contains asbestos by looking at it. But there are characteristics that should prompt an assessment:

Age. If the meter board or switchboard was installed before 1985 and has not been replaced since, the backing material should be treated as potentially containing asbestos.

Appearance. Asbestos cement board backing is typically grey or cream-coloured, smooth on one face and rougher on the other, rigid, and feels similar to compressed fibre cement sheet. It's distinct from the timber or hardboard backings sometimes used in the same era. Some boards have a fibrous, slightly powdery texture when scuffed.

Construction style. Older meter boxes — typically a painted metal enclosure mounted on the outside wall — with a flat backing board the components are mounted to are the common configuration. The backing board may be held in with screws at the corners.

Location. External meter boxes are a more common location than internal switchboards, simply because external boxes from the 1960s and 1970s were often untouched while internal boards were more likely to have been upgraded at some point.

To confirm whether asbestos is present, a sample of the material needs to be sent to an accredited laboratory for analysis. In practice, where a board clearly dates from the pre-1985 era and the backing material has the right appearance, many practitioners treat it as confirmed ACM and proceed accordingly rather than waiting for analysis — the analysis is valuable when you need to document the outcome, but it doesn't change what you do with it.

Why electricians can't work around friable asbestos

This is the point that causes confusion. The scenario goes: the homeowner wants a switchboard upgrade, the electrician visits, identifies a suspect board, and tells the homeowner the electrician can't start until the asbestos is dealt with. The homeowner wonders why.

The answer is in the Victorian occupational health and safety framework. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Regulations 2017 (Victoria), licensed electrical work and licensed asbestos removal are separate, regulated activities. An electrician is licensed to perform electrical work. Removing, handling, or disposing of asbestos-containing material is not within the scope of an electrical licence. Class B asbestos removal licence holders can handle bonded (non-friable) ACM, and Class A licence holders can handle both bonded and friable ACM.

In a meter board context, the asbestos backing starts as bonded (non-friable) ACM. But when electrical components are removed from it — when screws are undone, mounting hardware is detached, the board is moved — the material can be disturbed enough to release fibres. If the backing board itself needs to be removed or cut to install the new board, the risk increases further. At that point the work is no longer "don't touch the asbestos and work around it" — it's working in direct contact with material that releases fibres when disturbed.

The regulatory position in Victoria is clear: the removal of the asbestos backing board requires a licensed asbestos removalist. The electrical work that follows is then done on a clean, ACM-free substrate.

The correct process

When a meter board or switchboard has ACM backing, the sequence is:

1. Asbestos assessment

Before any removal work, an asbestos assessor (a person with the appropriate qualifications under the Victorian framework) surveys the board, confirms the presence of ACM, determines whether it is bonded or friable in its current state, and issues a report. This report documents what is present, in what quantity, and its condition. It also identifies the appropriate removal licence class required.

Where the ACM is clearly bonded and in good condition, a Class B removal licence is typically sufficient. Where the material has been previously disturbed, shows deterioration, or the work requires cutting or breaking it, a Class A licence may be needed.

The assessor's report becomes the basis for the removal scope of work.

2. Licensed asbestos removal

A licensed removalist removes the ACM backing board. For a meter board, this typically involves removing the electrical components first (which the electrician can do if the components can be detached without disturbing the backing), then the removalist removes the backing board, wraps and bags it as hazardous waste, and takes it to an approved disposal facility.

In Victoria, asbestos waste disposal requires licensed waste transport and disposal at a Class III landfill (or Class II where authorised). The removalist handles this.

After removal, air monitoring may be required to confirm the area is clear of fibres before work continues. For residential work, a clearance inspection by the assessor is common, though regulatory requirements vary by quantity.

3. Electrical upgrade

With the ACM backing removed and the clearance confirmed, the electrician installs the new switchboard or meter board on a clean substrate — typically a new backing board made from modern non-ACM material, or the work proceeds directly to the new enclosure if the old box is also being replaced.

The electrical work then proceeds as it would for any switchboard upgrade: new enclosure, new circuit breakers or RCBOs, safety switches, and consumer mains assessment as required.

4. Documentation

The asbestos assessor's report, the removal contractor's records, the waste disposal documentation, and the Certificate of Electrical Safety for the electrical work are all kept. If the property is sold later, disclosure requirements in Victoria mean the removal history is relevant to the vendor's statement.

Who coordinates what

This is the practical question. You've got an electrician, an asbestos assessor, and a removal contractor involved in what started as a switchboard upgrade. The question is who manages the sequencing.

We handle the coordination. When we identify an ACM board on a site visit, we refer the homeowner to an asbestos assessor we work with, the assessor does the assessment and issues the report, we brief the removal contractor on access and timing, and the removalist books in around our schedule. When the clearance comes back, we return to complete the electrical work.

The homeowner deals with one point of contact for the electrical scope. The asbestos side runs in parallel. The job takes longer than a standard switchboard upgrade — typically a few days across assessment, removal, clearance, and electrical installation — but the process isn't complicated once you know what the steps are.

Realistic framing

Finding asbestos in a meter board is not a crisis. It's a complication that adds steps to a job that needed to be done anyway. The ACM in a bonded, undisturbed board is not releasing fibres into the home — it's sitting there, stable, doing nothing. The risk arises when you disturb it, which is why the trigger is usually the planned electrical work.

The people most at risk from asbestos in meter boards are not the homeowners who live with the boards untouched for decades. The risk concentrates on anyone who works on the board without adequate controls — tradespeople who don't identify ACM before starting, or who skip the removal step because it adds cost and time. That's the scenario the licensing requirements are designed to prevent.

If you're planning a switchboard upgrade and your home was built before 1985, expect the site visit to include an assessment of the backing board material. If ACM is identified, the process above is what follows. Contact us about a switchboard upgrade and we'll assess the board on the first visit.