Asbestos Insulating Board (AIB)

Where do you find this?

Asbestos Insulating Board was commonly used as fireproofing material but it had many other uses such as:

  • partition walls
  • fireproofing panels in fire doors
  • lift shaft linings
  • ceiling tiles
  • soffits
  • panels below windows

What does is look like?

Normal building items such as wall panels boards, ceiling tiles and plasterboard. It is difficult to tell the difference between asbestos insulating board items and non-asbestos materials.

Person in protective equipment removing ceiling tile
AIB ceiling tile
soffit
AIB soffit under roof
Cabinet with damaged corner
AIB cabinet
tile with broken corner
Damaged perforated ceiling tile

How dangerous is this?

Work on any type of asbestos can be dangerous. However, some short duration work (less than 1 hour for 1 person in a 7 day period, not to exceed 2 hours spent by all workers) for small or minor tasks on AIB can be carried out by non-licensed workers who are appropriately trained.

Short duration work to remove AIB as part of demolition or major refurbishment would be notifiable.

Any work lasting more than 1 hour for 1 person in a 7 day period, or more than 2 hours by all workers would require a licensed contractor. 

Asbestos Essentials includes a number of task sheets which will show you how to safely carry out non-licensed work on AIB.

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Updated 2023-05-16