Most factory dismantling jobs go wrong in the first week, not the last. Someone cuts into a tank nobody purged, or the asbestos report comes back after the roof sheets are already down, and what was a straightforward decommissioning turns into a stop-work notice.
This is the checklist version. Work through it in order, because the order is most of the point.
Phase 1: before anyone picks up a tool
- Asbestos inspection. A licensed assessor or removalist inspects and identifies asbestos-containing materials before any strip-out begins. Anything built or refitted before the 1990s should be assumed suspect until tested. Roof sheeting, wall cladding, pipe lagging, switchboard backing panels, gaskets and vinyl tile adhesive are the usual finds.
- Licensed removal booked. Class A covers all asbestos, including friable. Class B covers non-friable only. Licensed removalists must notify WorkSafe Victoria at least five days before starting.
- Electrical isolation certified. A licensed electrician disconnects and certifies in writing. Not “the main switch is off.” Written.
- Other services isolated. Gas, water, compressed air, steam, hydraulics. Tag and log each one.
- Refrigerant recovered. Chillers, cool rooms and air conditioning need a licensed technician to recover gas before anything is cut.
- Hazardous materials removed. Oils, coolants, solvents, process chemicals, acid baths. Old transformers and capacitors may contain PCBs and need specialist handling.
- Permits in place. Confined space entry, working at heights, hot work.
- Insurance and inductions current for every contractor on site.
- Photograph everything before it moves. Nameplates, switchboard layouts, pipe runs. You will want them later, and so will anyone buying equipment off you.
Phase 2: value the metal before you cut
- Walk the site and inventory by metal type, not by equipment. Copper bus bar, motor windings, cable, stainless vessels, aluminium trays, mild steel structure, cast iron bases.
- Decide what’s worth more working than weighed. A serviceable lathe, compressor or switchboard is often worth several times its scrap value. Once it’s cut, that option is gone.
- Get the metal quoted as a job, not piece by piece. A yard that has seen the site can quote the whole lot and tell you what’s worth separating.
- Check access before anyone promises a truck. Door widths, hardstand, crane space, overhead clearance, whether a semi can turn around.
Phase 3: the removal order
Loose and light first. Structural last. The building holds itself up until the end.
- Cable and wiring, once isolation is certified. Switchboards, cable trays, sub-mains. This is usually the highest-value metal in a factory and the easiest to pull early.
- Motors, drives and transformers. Copper windings inside, and often worth selling as units rather than as scrap.
- Loose plant and small machinery. Anything that can be forklifted out whole.
- Pipework and ducting. Purge before cutting, without exception, and know what ran through it.
- Tanks and vessels. The most dangerous item on any factory site. Anything that held flammable liquid, gas or residue must be purged, tested and certified gas-free before hot work goes anywhere near it. Cold-cutting is the safer option.
- Fixed machinery and machine bases. Usually bolted to slab, often cast iron.
- Structural steel, mezzanines and roof. Last, and with engineering input if anything is load-bearing.
Phase 4: hot work rules worth writing on the wall
- Permit issued, fire watch posted, extinguishers within reach, and the watch stays for at least thirty minutes after cutting stops.
- Never cut a vessel that hasn’t been certified gas-free. Residue in a drum is enough. People die on this one every year.
- Ventilate when cutting galvanised or coated steel. Zinc fume causes metal fume fever, and painted or plated steel can give off worse. Extraction or open air, plus the right respirator.
- Watch for lead paint on older structural steel and machine housings. Don’t grind it, don’t torch it.
Phase 5: sorting on site
- Separate bins from day one. Retro-sorting a mixed pile is miserable, and it never happens.
- Run at least four streams: copper and brass, aluminium, stainless, mild steel. Add cast iron if there’s volume in it.
- Keep copper and cable secure or off-site daily. It’s the most stolen metal in the state, and an open bin on an unattended site is an invitation.
- Strip attachments as you go. Steel brackets off aluminium, brass fittings off copper pipe, rubber and plastic off cable. Ten minutes at the point of removal beats an hour at the end.
- Keep turnings, swarf and oily metal separate and drained.
Phase 6: closing out
- Asbestos clearance certificate and air monitoring results on file.
- Weighbridge dockets for every load that leaves.
- Disposal records for anything that isn’t metal. Under Victorian environmental law, the duty sits with whoever generated the waste, and it doesn’t transfer just because someone carted it away.
- Equipment sale records for anything sold working rather than scrapped.
- Final site photos.
The three that catch people out
Tanks. Covered above and worth repeating. Purged, tested, certified. No exceptions, no “it’s only a little bit of residue.”
Asbestos found mid-job. If it turns up after work starts, stop. Don’t work around it. Every hour of production pressure is cheaper than a contaminated site.
Sorting left until last. The metal is often the only line on a decommissioning budget that pays money in rather than out. Sorted properly, it can offset a meaningful slice of the job. Tipped into one skip, it pays close to mild steel rates for everything, copper included.
Johnny Metal Recycling handles factory dismantling and commercial scrap across Melbourne, and can quote the metal before the job starts rather than after.