Asbestos in Renovation and Strip-Out in Singapore: Surveys, Approved Removal and Owner Duties

Asbestos is no longer used in Singapore’s buildings, but a great deal of it is still in them. Buildings completed before the 1990s may contain it in roof sheets, ceiling boards, partitions, floor tiles, pipe lagging and fire protection boards. Left intact, most of these materials do little harm. The moment of danger is the renovation, the A&A works or the strip-out, when the material is drilled, broken or torn down and its fibres go into the air that workers and occupants breathe.

Singapore regulates that moment closely. The Workplace Safety and Health (Asbestos) Regulations 2014 require an asbestos survey before building works start on older buildings, allow only MOM-approved contractors to remove asbestos, require notice to MOM at least 7 days before removal, and set out how asbestos work and waste must be controlled.¹ The National Environment Agency (NEA) then controls how the waste is collected, transported and landfilled.¹³

This guide explains where asbestos is found, what the Singapore ban covered and when, what the regulations require and of whom, NEA’s disposal rules, how to run the survey before strip-out, the health evidence, and a checklist for owners, MCSTs, tenants and fit-out managers. It is general information; check current requirements with MOM and NEA for your project.

Why renovation is the risk moment

The regulations define asbestos as crocidolite, actinolite, anthophyllite, amosite, tremolite, chrysotile, amphiboles, or a mixture containing any of them.¹ “Work involving asbestos” covers using, handling, treating, cutting, removing, storing, disposing of or disturbing asbestos or asbestos-containing material at a workplace.¹

Whether a material releases fibres depends on its condition and on what is done to it. NEA’s guidance distinguishes non-friable materials, where the fibres are bound in cement or another matrix, and states that these should not pose a health hazard if they are in good condition and not damaged.¹³ Renovation changes that. Breaking a cement roof sheet, cutting an old ceiling board, grinding a floor tile or stripping pipe lagging can release fibres in a way that intact materials do not. A 2011 review by NUS researchers found that occupational asbestos exposure in Singapore by then occurred mainly during demolition or renovation of older buildings.¹⁷

Where asbestos is found in Singapore buildings

NEA lists corrugated roofs, ceiling boards and partition walls as asbestos-containing materials that older buildings may still have.¹³ A 2011 peer-reviewed review of asbestos in Singapore records that the construction industry used asbestos widely in floor and ceiling tiles, asbestos-cement pipes and sheets, refuse chutes and fire-resistant structures, and also in pipe lagging, heat insulation, and cladding or sprayed-on materials on beams and between walls.¹⁷ The regulations’ First Schedule lists further “specified materials” that must be surveyed before work on them regardless of the building’s age.¹

You cannot identify asbestos by sight. MOM states that visual inspection can rule out only non-composite materials such as glass, metal or wood; anything else must be sampled and tested where work will be carried out.⁷

Singapore’s ban: what was banned and when

Sources describe the ban as a series of steps rather than a single date.

Two points follow for owners. First, the commonly quoted “1989” refers to use in buildings; import controls on other asbestos products came later and in stages, and the 2011 review notes that certain chrysotile-containing products could still be imported under licence at that time.¹⁷ Check the current import position with NEA if it matters to you. Second, the 1 January 1991 date in regulation 3 is the practical test: if the building, or the part you are working on, has no completion certificate or TOP issued on or after that date, a survey is required before building works start.¹ MOM’s guidance puts it simply: a building built after 1 January 1991 is unlikely to contain asbestos-containing materials.³

The WSH (Asbestos) Regulations 2014

The regulations are made under the Workplace Safety and Health Act and came into operation on 30 May 2014, replacing the Factories (Asbestos) Regulations.¹ They use the term approved asbestos-removal contractor: a holder of a valid certificate of approval from the Commissioner for Workplace Safety and Health.¹ MOM’s website links to a search for approved contractors; a general builder’s licence or a renovation contractor’s other registrations do not substitute for approval.²¹⁰

Key regulations at a glance

Sources: regulations as currently in force on Singapore Statutes Online.¹

Survey before the works (regulations 3 to 5)

Regulation 3 places the duty on the employer of the person carrying out the work, or the principal under whose direction it is carried out. Work on a specified material, or building works on a pre-1991 building, may start only after the employer or principal receives a survey report from a competent person it has appointed.¹ The survey requirement for a specified material does not apply if there is documentary proof that the material does not contain asbestos (reg 3(3)).¹ MOM’s guidance summarises the rule: asbestos surveys are required for any building work, meaning demolition, alteration, extension or repair, in buildings built before 1 January 1991, and for work on the listed specified materials.⁴

A “competent person” is someone with sufficient experience and training who has completed the course the Commissioner requires.¹ MOM states that an asbestos surveyor must have completed the WSQ Survey Asbestos and Other Fibres Risk Course.⁷ The surveyor must take samples with the consent of the owner or occupier, have them tested by a recognised testing body, prepare the report without delay and submit it with the test results within 3 months of appointment; the employer or principal must keep it for at least 2 years.¹

Removal only by approved contractors (regulation 13)

Regulation 13(1) states that no person may undertake asbestos-removal work at a workplace unless it is an approved asbestos-removal contractor. Regulation 13(2) makes it the occupier’s duty to ensure that every asbestos-removal job at the workplace is done by an approved contractor “and no other”.¹ For a building owner, MCST or tenant in control of premises, this is a personal duty, not something the main contractor can absorb by contract. Our guide on work-at-height law and occupier liability explains who counts as an occupier or principal under the WSH Act.

Notification to MOM (regulation 14)

The approved contractor must notify the Commissioner of every asbestos-removal job at least 7 days before the work, or such shorter period as the Commissioner specifies in a particular case, in the form and manner the Commissioner requires, and keep a copy at the workplace for inspectors.¹ MOM’s notification process asks for the asbestos-removal plan of work and the asbestos survey result. After the job, the contractor retrieves the notification and submits an asbestos waste disposal certificate, and submits an air monitoring report through MOM’s e-service.²

Build at least this week into the programme from the moment the survey confirms asbestos. In practice the critical path is longer: survey, laboratory results, appointment of the approved contractor, preparation of the plan of work, notification, removal, cleaning and any air monitoring, before the main works can proceed in that area.

Plan of work and control measures (regulations 6 to 12, 15 and 16)

The approved contractor must appoint a competent person, who prepares an asbestos-removal plan of work covering the nature, duration and exact location of the work, the type of asbestos, removal methods and measures to minimise release and spread, decontamination, storage and disposal of waste, monitoring, and emergency arrangements.¹ The work must be carried out by or under the supervision of the competent person, and the plan fully implemented.¹

The general controls apply to any work involving asbestos: training before starting and at least every 12 months; suitable protective equipment including respiratory protection; access restricted to people doing the work and wearing protective equipment; reasonably practicable measures to minimise airborne release, such as wet methods, local exhaust ventilation or containment; preventing spread beyond the work area, including enclosing it; decontamination facilities; and cleaning of the area.¹¹⁸ The WSH Council notes that employers must also arrange pre-placement and periodic medical examinations for workers exposed to asbestos, under the Workplace Safety and Health (Medical Examinations) Regulations 2011.¹⁴

Demolition (regulation 17)

Where a building is to be demolished and a survey report states that asbestos is fixed or installed, or the owner tells the employer or principal that it is, the employer or principal must ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, that removal by an approved contractor is completed before demolition starts.¹ MOM summarises this duty as ensuring asbestos-containing materials are removed before buildings are demolished.⁸ For the wider demolition process, see our guide on demolition and strip-out safety.

Penalties (regulation 23)

Source: regulation 23 as amended with effect from 1 June 2024.¹ A repeat offender is someone convicted of a listed corresponding offence within the previous 5 years.¹

NEA rules on asbestos waste disposal

Asbestos waste is a toxic industrial waste in Singapore; the 2011 review notes that asbestos is controlled under the Environmental Public Health (Toxic Industrial Waste) Regulations.¹⁷ NEA’s guidance on asbestos waste sets out the practical requirements.¹³

Never let asbestos debris go into general construction waste, a renovation skip or a refuse chute. MOM directs members of the public who see illegal disposal of asbestos waste to report it to NEA, and unsafe asbestos-removal work can be reported to MOM with the site address, contractor’s name and photographs.¹¹¹²

The asbestos survey before strip-out

The survey is the step owners can control most directly, and the one that most affects cost and programme. A survey done before tender lets contractors price the removal and plan around it; a survey triggered by a discovery mid-strip-out stops the job.

Which survey you need

MOM distinguishes the level of survey by purpose.⁷

For renovation, MOM states that the survey scope must include all areas undergoing renovation, and that areas not affected may be excluded; a survey of the whole building is not needed if only part is being worked on.⁵⁶ For a strip-out or demolition, the survey must be thorough enough to find materials hidden above ceilings, inside risers, behind panels and under later finishes. MOM refers surveyors to Annex A of the WSH Guidelines on Management and Removal of Asbestos for a list of suspected materials.⁷

Asbestos you are not removing

Not every asbestos material has to come out. Where asbestos-containing materials will remain, MOM advises building owners to put in place an asbestos management programme, including awareness training for people working near them, and to take corrective action immediately if any material is damaged; any removal or repair must be by an approved contractor.⁹ Record their locations on drawings and in the building’s maintenance records so that future contractors, electricians and cleaners do not disturb them unknowingly. This is part of running works in occupied premises safely.

Health effects

The World Health Organization’s fact sheet, updated in August 2026, states that all forms of asbestos are carcinogenic to humans.¹⁵ It lists mesothelioma and cancers of the lung, larynx and ovary, and chronic respiratory disease including asbestosis, as consequences of exposure, and recommends stopping all use of asbestos and protecting workers during maintenance and removal.¹⁵

The WSH Council’s guidelines on occupational diseases list demolition and renovation of buildings containing asbestos among the exposures for both asbestos-related lung cancer and mesothelioma.¹⁶ The same guidelines list asbestosis and malignant mesothelioma among the common occupational lung diseases reported in Singapore.¹⁶ Because latency runs into decades, Singapore is still seeing disease from past exposure: the 2011 review records 49 mesothelioma deaths between 1990 and 2006 and notes that the mesothelioma mortality rate had doubled since 2000.¹⁷

The practical point for owners is that the people at risk from a badly managed strip-out include not only the workers but anyone breathing the same air, which in a live building can be occupants, cleaners and neighbouring tenants.

The owner’s role in practice

Most asbestos problems on renovation jobs are failures of sequence, not failures of technique. The owner’s influence lies in four decisions.

1. Know the building’s date. The 1 January 1991 cut-off in regulation 3 tells you whether a survey is a legal precondition for building works.¹
2. Commission the survey before tender. Put the report in the tender documents so that removal is priced and programmed, not discovered.
3. Separate the contracts or the scope clearly. Asbestos removal is either a separate contract with an approved contractor or a clearly defined subcontract to one. Make the main contractor’s scope start after clearance in affected areas.
4. Control what happens on discovery. Write a stop-work-and-report procedure into the contract for suspected asbestos found during works, with a clear route to survey and approved removal.

For strata buildings, an MCST or managing agent is often the occupier of common property, and a tenant is often the occupier of its own premises; each should ask who has control before works start. Asbestos removal in a strip-out is one of several consents and safety steps listed in our guide to A&A works approvals, and opening up walls and slabs is covered in hacking walls and structural elements. Use the approval navigator to see what else your works may need.

Summary

Asbestos in Singapore is a renovation problem, not a building-in-use problem: intact materials are generally low risk, but disturbing them is regulated tightly. For buildings without a completion certificate or TOP issued on or after 1 January 1991, a competent person’s survey must come before building works. Only an MOM-approved contractor may remove asbestos, with at least 7 days’ notice to MOM, a plan of work and full controls, and the occupier must make sure no one else does it. NEA requires the waste to be sealed, labelled, collected by a licensed toxic industrial waste collector and barged to Semakau. Owners who survey before tender, programme the removal and keep records avoid both the health risk and the stop-work. Definitions of the terms used here are in the glossary.