Copyright 2006 Nationwide News Pty Limited
All Rights Reserved
By TANYA SEGELOV
The Advertiser (Australia)
The news last week that New York lost its first police officer — dead from respiratory disease after helping find people in the rubble of the World Trade Center — should come as no surprise.
I remember watching live on television as lower Manhattan was engulfed in a huge dust cloud in the minutes and hours after the twin towers collapsed.
I also remember hearing how old the World Trade Center was and realising asbestos and other toxic substances were part of what was covering New York City in dust.
The possibility that citizens could have been exposed to dust diseases on 9/11 as they fled the area was probably unavoidable. But what was avoidable — and is thoroughly inexcusable — is that emergency response organisations allowed their personnel to work on such a poisonous site unprotected for weeks and months after the collapses.
Tragedy was compounded by the decision to leave safety considerations behind in the search for survivors and during the subsequent cleanup. As a result, the real death toll from 9/11 will continue to grow for many years, as asbestos cancers can take 20 to 40 years to develop.
New Yorkers now face an agonising wait to see who else was “dusted” that day.
This terrible legacy should surely be one of the main lessons from September 11, 2001.
But here in South Australia, our emergency response planners must also learn from the 9/11 experience. Our city planners have a responsibility to ensure emergency response teams on site during a natural or man-made disaster are aware of the dangers of asbestos.
Ideally, these heroes would know beforehand the extent of asbestos within buildings that could be the subject of an attack. Such basic “mapping” work now will save lives should the unthinkable happen. In addition, sufficient equipment must be issued to our firefighters, ambulance officers and police so they can search for survivors during disasters with confidence, knowing they are not risking an agonising death by doing their job.
Specialist police rescue squads have respiratory equipment, but my worry is for the first-response units, which will no doubt be pulling people out of ruined buildings before the elite rescue units arrive.
The dangers of asbestos have been known for more than 100 years. In Australia, countless thousands of people will contract an asbestos-related disease due to working with the product. Tragically, the death toll here has not peaked. The dangers have been highlighted by the recent James Hardie inquiry.
It was only last month that local victims received some certainty of compensation payments, thanks to a deal between the corporate giant, victims and the New South Wales Government. Thankfully, in Australia, asbestos imports have been banned and asbestos removals are subject to strict regulations.
But South Australia also has the highest rate of mesothelioma per capita in the world.
This makes it imperative that stringent precautions are instituted to cover any local emergency cleanup operation. In light of the New York experience, anything less is unacceptable.
* Tanya Segelov is a dust disease specialist and managing partner at Turner Freeman Lawyers in Adelaide, the firm that represented victims at the James Hardie inquiry.
ASBESTOS SAFETY
Don’t handle or work with asbestos products - call the experts.
If you must work with asbestos, always use an approved mask and thoroughly wet the material you are working with to reduce dust.
Don’t allow anyone near you when working.
Wear old clothes. When finished, put the clothes in a rubbish bag and seal it. Do this before you remove the mask. Then immediately shower. Never sweep up. Use a vacuum cleaner and put the vacuum bag into a rubbish bag and seal it before removing your mask, which should also be sealed in a rubbish bag.
Never put the rubbish bags in the garbage bin or take them to the tip. Call your local council to find out how to dispose of them safely.