… ENDANGERING WORKERS, STAFF AND PATIENTS
The Independent Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie, has joined representatives of construction unions to discuss the ongoing and serious problems with asbestos at the Royal Hobart Hospital.
“There have now been at least eight episodes where workers, staff or patients have been exposed to asbestos at the Royal Hobart Hospital rebuild site,” Mr Wilkie said.
“The problem is not that there’s asbestos in the Royal – that’s to be expected because this is a significant redevelopment of old buildings. The problem, it appears, is that this asbestos is not being dealt with appropriately or safely.
“Rather than all asbestos being removed before construction starts in a particular area, there seems to be a practice of finding workarounds so that workers don’t have to deal with all of the asbestos. This is not best practice and it’s endangering workers, staff and patients.
“Either it’s up to the contractors to comply with the contract to do the job properly and safely or, if the contract does not require the job to be completed to best practice standards, then the State Government must negotiate a contract variation. It would be a remarkable omission by the Government if the contract is deficient and does not insist on the very best practice for handling asbestos.
“In any case, no workplace should endanger people and no government should stand by and allow that to happen.”
Andrew Wilkie, Independent MP for Denison
