SafeWork SA launches new asbestos safety crackdown on rogue firms who fail to safely remove deadly material
The state’s safety watchdog will launch a new crackdown on rogue asbestos businesses amid fears companies are cutting corners.
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The state’s safety watchdog will launch a new crackdown on rogue asbestos businesses amid fears companies are cutting corners when removing deadly material.
SafeWork SA will launch the statewide “campaign”, which officials say will focus on cowboy operators who fail to follow management rules or demolition safety.
A similar clampdown last year sparked 130 improvement and prohibition notices.
Areas of concern included a failure to have an asbestos register (31 notices), develop an appropriate management plan (14), and not knowing asbestos was present (11).
More than half of audits found workplaces were not following safety laws.
Authorities say working with asbestos requires a “high degree of regulatory control” and special licences.
The crackdown emerged as another unnamed asbestos business has been subjected to a snap licence suspension for shoddy work on a home building site on Anzac Day.
The firm failed to identify, and remove, asbestos before demolition, which resulted in asbestos cement being crushed.
This causes dangerous asbestos particles top be airborne. A concerned member of public tipped off the work, health and safety watchdog.
In a statement, new SafeWork SA executive director, Glenn Farrell, said the latest contractor being suspended served as an industry warning.
He said inspectors took action to cancel or suspend an asbestos removal licence “where there is evidence a removalist has not demonstrated safe and competent asbestos removal practices”.
“This contractor’s failure as a licensed asbestos removalist required such a sanction,” he said.
“(This) should be seen as a warning to any other business who fall short of ensuring the health and safety of their workers and members of the public is not put at risk.”
In March it slapped three-month licence suspensions on an unnamed Adelaide asbestos assessor and demolition contractor.
Figures show Australia has one of the world’s highest rates of asbestos-related diseases, with more than 4,000 exposure-related deaths each year.
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