NSW Chief Health officer Dr Kerry Chant not told of Orica spill for 48 hours
THE NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant was not told of the Orica chemical spill until 48 hours after the poison had engulfed a Newcastle suburb.
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THE NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant said she should have been notified of the Orica chemical spill immediately - and not 48 hours after the plume of poison had engulfed the Newcastle suburb of Stockton.
Under siege, Dr Chant has called for an overhaul of the health warning system to ensure public safety is never again compromised.
"I would have loved to have heard about the incident when it was happening. That would have been the best opportunity to get messages out at that time of the plume - as the incident was happening. That was the time when gas (was) being emitted off-site from Orica," Dr Chant told The Sunday Telegraph.
"I wish I knew about it on the Monday night to be perfectly frank," said Dr Chant, referring to the moment toxic clouds of hexavalent chromium spewed into the air, coating houses, parks and playgrounds.
"There should be appropriate notification in place," added Dr Chant, who was alerted to the leak on Wednesday August 10 at 5.40pm.
The time lag between the leak and the public notification is the subject of two inquiries.
One is headed up by the former Premier's Department head Brendan O'Reilly and is scheduled for completion by September 30.
In a separate Upper House inquiry, the Premier, Environment Minister Robyn Parker and Health Minister Jillian Skinner will be forced to release all emails into why there was a 54-hour lag in communicating the leak to the public, and why Dr Chant, Ms Skinner, Ms Parker and liberal Newcastle MP Tim Owen were all aware of the leak on Wednesday evening, yet the Premier claims he was unaware until Thursday morning.
The Premier's office told The Sunday Telegraph that Dr Chant was responsible for public notification of these things. Environment Minister Robyn Parker said in parliament it is not the responsibility of the Minister for the Environment to issue health warnings."
However, Dr Chant was not alerted to the gas leak despite the Premier's own department, the Office of Environment and Heritage, knowing about it some 30 hours prior when Orica informed the OEH on Tuesday at 10.30am.
"I was on a plane from Canberra. I got the message on my phone and I was informed at 5.40pm on Wednesday night," Dr Chant said.
Dr Chant said she immediately convened an expert panel - which included a toxicologist - to assess the risk on Wednesday evening, yet she did not go public until mid-afternoon on Thursday.
"We were balancing the issue to get the facts established to put reassuring messages out there but clearly some precautionary messages. (The panel) felt they needed to confirm some additional information.
"As soon as they had that ... I called a press conference. We went out at the earliest possible time and I'm happy for that to be looked at in the review and parliamentary inquiry."
