The safety of woodchip piles and my apology

I apologised for making my statement to WIN television in April 2002 because I could have and should have taken my concerns directly to the company.

I also acknowledged that Gunns commissioned a study to be undertaken and that Legionella was not found in the samples taken by the expert undertaking that study.
Before making my settlement with Gunns my legal team had commissioned a review of the Gunns study by the scientist who first described the growth of Legionella species in decomposing wood products.

Gunns had had a copy of that review for some months prior to the settlement.

That scientist, who authored the review, was microbiologist Dr Trevor Steele.

Dr Steele made the the following statement in regard to the earlier Gunns report; “to claim that the sacrificial layer did not contain Legionella on the basis of two tests of small samples is misleading. The laboratory would need to examine many samples and possibly use enrichment techniques with amoebae to conclude that Legionella were not present”.

Dr Steele went on to say ; “I believe that stockpiled woodchips are likely to be a significant reservoir of pathogenic micro-organisms including Legionella”.

Dr Steele also produced published evidence that aerosolised organisms can be blown much further than had been suggested in the Gunns report, he states; “aerosols travelling one to 20 kilometres has been reported”.

Dr Steele was not reassured by the statement of the Acting Director of Public Health at the time that ‘not one case of Legionella in the state since 1989 had been traced to a woodchip pile’. Dr Steele suggests “(this) may simply mean that they were not asked about such exposure”.

The Steele Report is available online.

The other microbiological risk I identified in my 2002 statement was funguses.

This, in addition to Legionella, remains a concern and will be addressed by Dr Roscoe Taylor (Director of Public Health) in the review which he is conducting in the light of the Steele Report.