Following our initial health and safety response regarding the presence of asbestos in certain fire safety doors, WorkSafe is providing the following information for businesses.

This includes safe practices for the storage, handling, management, and disposal of asbestos, along with health advice for organisations and individuals concerned about potential exposure.

Identification, handling and disposal of fire safety doors

  • Product identification: Until further notice, all fire doors supplied by Pacific Doors between 2021 and August 2025 must be presumed to contain asbestos. Contact Pacific Doors for further details regarding product identification at this time.
  • Testing and sampling: Extensive testing (PLM/DS and TEM/EDS/SAED) has confirmed asbestos in the core board, with no consistent pattern by batch or manufacturing year. Due to unreliable PLM results and the importance of maintaining fire door integrity, we do not recommend further sampling to identify the presence of asbestos.
  • Risk assessment: If fire doors remain intact, they pose negligible to no risk of asbestos exposure. However, if damage extends beyond cosmetic wear (i.e. not just bumps and scratches) and exposes the fire door core, immediate remediation must be undertaken in accordance with your organisation’s Asbestos Management Plan (AMP).
  • Installed doors: All premises with these doors installed must adopt a blanket presumption of asbestos presence for risk management purposes. Asbestos registers and AMPs must be updated or created for premises that previously had no asbestos present.
  • Installation prohibition: Further installation of these fire doors, including hardware fitting, is strictly prohibited under Regulation 7 of the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations 2016.
  • Uninstalled stock: Any uninstalled fire doors from this supply period must be quarantined and disposed of as asbestos waste, in line with your organisation’s AMP.

Health advice 

Organisations and individuals concerned about potential asbestos exposure should consult an Occupational Medicine Physician or equivalent specialist. These professionals are best equipped to assess, educate, and support workers who may have been exposed to asbestos-related health risks. 

For further guidance, we recommend the following resources: 

3 September 2025

On 30 June 2025, WorkSafe was notified of a potential health risk involving imported materials, which may contain asbestos, used in the production of fire safety doors.

In response, we alerted the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), which is coordinating with other government agencies, and commenced a targeted health and safety response.

WorkSafe inspectors conducted urgent assessments at two companies — one of which was Pacific Door Systems Ltd (PDS). As a result, PDS sites in Wellington and Timaru were closed temporarily while they safely removed any asbestos-containing material and have since received independent clearance certificates and deemed safe for workers to return. Since then, we have conducted a number of site visits with different companies where we have been notified of similar concerns.

As the work health and safety regulator, WorkSafe’s role is to influence businesses and workers to ensure their work is healthy and safe. We also work with businesses and organisations to ensure they understand their obligations under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and, in this context, relevant asbestos regulations.

We continue to provide advice to companies and end-users concerned about their staff being exposed to asbestos, to consult an Occupational Medicine Physician or equivalent specialist. These professionals are best equipped to assess, educate, and support workers who may have been exposed to asbestos-related health risks. We also continue to advise companies that have any concerns regarding the safe storage, handling and disposal of asbestos-containing materials or products.

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