El Cheapo Spells Danger

Cut-price Third World building materials are undermining Australian efforts to ban deadly asbestos.

The AMWU is seeking an urgent report on federal compliance standards after a member discovered asbestos in pipes and gaskets imported from India.

The find sparked a two-day shutdown of the giant Burrup Fertelisers expansion project in Western Australia as health and safety consultants scoured the site and prepared a report.

Assistant state secretary, Colin Saunders, said the find made a "mockery" of Australian laws designed to protect workers and consumers.

"On January 1, it became illegal to import or use asbestos-containing materials in Australia," he said. "We have questions about how the hell this stuff got into Australia and we want answers."

"Asbestos is a killer that has taken the lives of thousands of people."

"This discovery hasn't only compromised construction workers. At the very least, maritime workers and truck drivers have had some level of exposure."

Saunders said there were only two exemptions to the complete ban on its use - the Air Force had been granted a five-year extension and there was an exemption on some specialist pressure vessel gaskets.

He said health and safety officials had informed him that Customs doesn't have the staff to check all imported material for asbestos.

"Western Australian authorities want assurances from federal agencies and so do we," Saunders said.

The alarm was raised at Burrup Fertelisers when human resources failed to respond to suspect material that had been referred three weeks earlier.

Eventually, it conceded, the webbing material had contained asbestos. In the meantime, workers had found asbestos in gaskets.

Workers returned, last Saturday, after a full report from Perth-based safety consultants, and the cordoning off of affected areas.

© 2002 UNIONSAFE
This site is sponsored by the Workcover Authority of NSW for Labor Council of NSW

Site designed and engineered by Social Change Online [credits]
This page: http://unionsafe.net.au/news/112433000211432.html
Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:35 EST