Work safety – still okay?

Yesterday, for the first time in nearly 4 years, I got to a meeting held by the Safety Institute of Australia (SIA) at the Windsor International Hotel on the north side of Brisbane. I had just recently rejoined SIA (assisted by Natalie, my supporter at Mylestone) when my previous membership had expired shortly after I was in hospital 3 years ago. I had no idea who I would see at this meeting, and if anyone would remember me.

The afternoon started with 3 workgroups who would look at issues – I chose #2, “Safety Leadership Differently – implications and shifting your thinking”. I was in too deep water here, because I didn't understand – until about half way through it – that Naomi Kemp from UQ, who presented it, didn't intend on training the SIA members. Perhaps I could have suggested that, but it's only me who hasn't worked in safety for four years.

Kemp described H&S in UQ as a 'negative connotation'. They would need to, she said, change the word 'pro-active' because that's not an acceptable word. She said that her training would be to talk about how work is done, not specifically safety. Perhaps that's how I feel.

Back into the main meeting, the gentleman leading it said that Queensland SIA meetings were “the best in Australia”. He reminded me of how SIA had almost fallen over 6-7 years ago. I remembered that, very much so. I used to have arguments with SIA on their forums, and I didn't ever see SIA as academic rather than work-related. It seems that SIA has now changed to become a lot more focussed. Good for them.

The main topic for the meeting was asbestos – which had originally drawn me in. My previous ex-manager had contact with asbestos from many years ago, before it was banned in this country. His lungs are poor. A friend I made in the Bethania retirement village also had asbestos and very bad lungs. He killed himself by not eating. I really feel that was what he wanted to do. Neither of those people had 'normal' lives – perhaps anyone interested can check out the government website or the awareness website I've read.

Paul Watts, a government WHS person, spoke about asbestos and construction workers. The numbers employed in construction has grown in 10 years – it was 753k in 2003, but 1,030k in 2013: a 37% increase.

The second speaker, Malcolm Burgin (I remembered him from years ago) now runs his OCCSafe company not just in Australia but in a number of areas overseas. He is possibly one of the global-top people who know about asbestos. I had recently read articles about asbestos wall panels from China which had ended up in Perth's children hospital – which wasn't 'discovered' until too late. Burgin says there are environmental issues and safety issues in that situation. So far it's cost the 'new' children's hospital an extra $14m – and that's 8 months after they were supposed to have finished the actual building, but it's got more potential review on the other stuff: i.e., lead pipes carrying water. Also bought from China. And it isn't, at the moment, fire insulated – it missed out earlier this year after the rebuilding. So far the Perth children's hospital building commission has a report in draft. It would be interesting to read that.

The Border Force should be knowledgeable about things such as these asbestos panels from China – they are labelled, too. Unfortunately, they didn't know anything about anything which contains asbestos – and they didn't check anything until they were pretty much threated by the CFMEU, whose members would walk off the hospital site until it was sorted. There are other departments or organisations which should be able to prosecute companies which have imported asbestos, but so far they haven't actioned. They don't even have linkage together! This includes:

• Border Force 
• Asbestos Eradication Agency 
• Safe Work Australia 
• State Regulators  and
• Building Commission

According to Wikipaedia, “Asbestosis is a chronic inflammatory and scarring disease affecting the tissue of the lungs.” Most people don't know about asbestos, asbestosis or mesothelioma which is the actual cancer suffered by people who have had contact with asbestos.

The Australian Asbestos Network has their own website, with history about sites where asbestos was mined from the 1930s. AAN said about Wittenoom, in WA, possibly the largest asbestos mine, that “Asbestos was everywhere in Wittenoom and the workers were exposed to it whether at work or at play”. This mine sold the asbestos on to CSR – a large sugar company with no mining experience – who ran it from 1943-66.

Baryulgil, in NSW, was a small chrysotile asbestos mine. James Hardie, which is still in business in Australia, was a subsidiary in 1944 and owned the mine from 1953-76. AAN told that “Dust permeated workers’ houses, and women and children were fully exposed”, and “Children played in the tailings and on the mine site itself”.

In Latrobe Valley in Victoria an electricity production was set up in the 1920s, and the town of Yallourn was built from most asbestos products. AAN said: “Asbestos, with its strength, durability and resistance to heat, was used quite widely at the time in household and everyday products, including asbestos cement sheets, building materials, roofing, plastics, textiles, floor tiles and clutch and break linings.” Hazelwood Power Station still stands, but Yallourn was bulldozed to allow coal mining in the area. 140,000 Latrobe Valley workers were exposed to asbestos between 1920s-80s, and too many of them contract mesothelioma “at seven times the state average”.

The SIA meeting was very well organised. I am aware that my own interest was hooked when I read what they would talk about. That topic interested me because I had been very aware of asbestos for years, even though I have never been in contact with it. I even knew a woman, in the Ulysses club I was a member of years ago, who worked at James Hardie. Her employment surprised me, but I couldn't have changed her opinion if I'd even tried.

I thank SIA for bringing asbestos to discussion at their meeting. It would be interesting to know if people who don't know about asbestos would read this and links and find out for themselves.