Conviction, fine for asbestos contamination at Payneham Goodlife Gym

An attempt to spruce up a roof led to an asbestos leak at a gym – now the building’s owners have been punished.

A company which authorised the use of a pressure sprayer on the asbestos roof of one of its properties has been convicted and fined for endangering public safety.

But the $36,000 fine handed to Aurora Property Investments (No 2) Pty Ltd and its director Alex Panas is a drop in the ocean compared to the true cost of the contamination, an Environment, Resources and Development Court Judge has said.

On Tuesday, Judge Michael Durrant refused to spare Mr Panas a conviction for the offending on October 28, 2017.

He said Mr Panas had authorised a relative to pressure spray the roof of their property on Portrush Rd, Payneham, ahead of a proposed “facelift” of the building.

Their tenant, 24-hour Goodlife Gym, was unaware of the work occurring on the roof and patrons continued to work out.

Over the following days, patrons reported seeing debris falling from the ceiling to the gym owners.

Mr Panas’ lawyers told the court during sentencing submissions that their client had sent a sample of the debris off for testing – but that the material remained on the ground.

One patron alerted the EPA after seeing what looked like asbestos fragments on the bitumen outside the gym.

Patrons unable to get into Goodlife Health Clubs Payneham. Picture: Matt Turner.

Inside the Goodlife Gym.

An investigation by the EPA found asbestos fibres in the airconditioning ducts, gutters and on the bitumen outside the gym.

The facility was shut down on November 2 and remained closed for five days while a decontamination took place.

Both Aurora and Mr Panas pleaded guilty to environmental harm and failure to notify the EPA.

Judge Durrant said Aurora had waived rent for the gym while it remained closed and paid compensation for their loss of members.

The waiver and the compensation cost the company around $200,000 while the publicity surrounding the closure of the gym led to a sales contract falling through, costing the company $2m.

Staff and patrons at the Goodlife gym in Payneham were forced to evacuate following an asbestos contamination caused by the landlords of the building pressure cleaning the roof. Picture: Emily Cosenza

Judge Durrant said he placed little weight on the claim the company had lost $2m as a result of the contamination, saying at its highest he could conclude the company had lost one opportunity to sell the property.

“The charges are not at the highest range of seriousness, but they are still significant,” he said.

“While the testing of air quality produced a negligible reading, the potential for harm was great.

“Mr Panas knew the gym was used by the public 24 hours a day and that it was the owners’ responsibility to check the asbestos register.”

Mr Panas was fined $12,000 while the company was fined $24,000 along with paying the EPA $25,525 in compensation for the cost of the cleaning the site.