… as fellow workers reveal they were refused asbestos awareness training
Up to a dozen construction workers were potentially exposed to deadly asbestos fibres over the weekend in the latest safety incident to occur at the $689 million Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment.
The Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union said the exposure occurred in a plant room and involved pipe lagging that had not been identified as containing asbestos.
CEPU acting state secretary Michael Anderson also revealed that other workers on the site had been refused asbestos awareness training, telling the union that their employer said they couldn’t attend because the company “won’t get paid for it”.
“It is absolutely shocking that a year on from the first known asbestos incident at the Royal Hobart Hospital redevelopment we have had yet another group of workers exposed to this deadly substance,” Mr Anderson said.
“This latest incident involved pipe lagging which contains asbestos in its most dangerous, friable state, making it that much more serious.
“Worryingly, despite all of the incidents that have occurred, this pipe lagging did not have signage alerting workers to the fact that it contained asbestos.
“We have now had eight known occasions when workers have been exposed to asbestos since principal contractor John Holland first claimed their processes were so stringent such incidents could not reoccur.”
Mr Anderson said he was also alarmed by reports from a number of workers that their employer had refused to allow them to attend asbestos awareness training.
“This is a clear example of profit being put ahead of safety,” he said.
“These workers allege that they were barred from attending this training as their employer ‘won’t get paid for it’, leaving them without the skills needed to identify and avoid potential asbestos risks on the site.
“While the builder is responsible for upholding safety standards, Health Minister Michael Ferguson recently tried to shift responsibility for asbestos incidents onto workers. His comments have been blown out of the water by reports training has been refused and workers are being sent into dangerous areas containing unlabeled asbestos.”
The union believes the only way to put an end to these repeated incidents is to identify and safely remove all asbestos from construction areas before work commences.
“It is absolutely clear the current system isn’t working,” Mr Anderson said. “Completely removing this deadly product is the only way we can protect workers and patients from future exposure.
“Unfortunately, it seems the Tasmanian Government is of the view that by the time people are diagnosed with asbestos diseases in the future, they will be long gone from office, so it won’t be their problem.
“This game of Russian roulette being played with the lives of Tasmanian construction workers must end.”
Download a copy of a CEPU submission outlining additional details of the previous asbestos incidents on the Royal Hobart Hospital project:
20160817 CEPU Submission – RHH Asbestos redacted.pdf
Tim Vollmer
