Copyright 2006 Nationwide News Pty Limited
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By ARMANDO GARDIMAN
The Daily Telegraph (Australia)
The Government needs to get serious about its policy to deal with asbestos because the next wave of victims are likely to come from home renovators.
The latest fiasco where hundreds of emergency personnel were “dusted” with asbestos during a training exercise at Holsworthy brings into sharp relief the need for governments to do more to protect citizens from this menace.
As a result of Holsworthy, a huge group of people that most in our community would regard as underpaid heroes face an agonising 20-30 year wait to see if they contract a deadly illness.
Taxpayers are now also potentially up for millions of dollars in compensation if the worst-case scenario eventuates.
While no one would begrudge emergency personnel devastated by dust disease future compensation, the fact that this incident has happened at all demonstrates that the Government is still not sufficiently focussed on the public health disaster that is asbestos disease. The Government needs to do the right thing with Holsworthy victims.
It must urgently set up a register of every single person on site that fateful day.
Those affected should not have to prove their presence at Holsworthy 30 years down the track when the latency period expires and symptoms develop.
While this would go a long way towards fixing the immediate problem of Holsworthy, the Government must also focus on structural failures that unnecessarily expose emergency service personnel.
For example, why is it only specialist rescue units that are fitted out with respirators? In the event of a building containing asbestos collapsing first response police, fire brigade and ambulance officers face a horrifying choice. Do they pull people from the rubble and risk inhaling asbestos fibres or do they stand back in dereliction of their duty?
In this post-September 11 environment, every police car, fire truck and ambulance should be fitted out with a respirator.
But asbestos is not confined only to commercial buildings.
In the ACT it is mandatory when buying a house to commission an “asbestos certificate” — a document filled in by a specialist inspector that identifies where asbestos exists in the home being purchased.
Conceptually similar to a pest certificate or a building certificate, asbestos certificates provide absolute certainty for a homeowner considering renovations or extensions. With the rise of the DIY renovation phenomenon, home renovators cutting through walls risk their own health and that of their family.
Shouldn’t the Government be considering this sensible public health initiative?
In short, after 20,000 asbestos-related deaths in this country my concern is that governments are still not sufficiently focussed on legislating or regulating to ensure public safety.
*Armando Gardiman is the managing partner of Turner Freeman Lawyers, the largest asbestos litigation law firm in Australia.