Asbestos risk: residents warned not to undertake home renovations

FOUR  Blacktown suburbs are among the top 20 in the state most at risk from asbestos but many residents are unaware of the danger.

Many homes in Blacktown City were built using asbestos cement fibre. Picture: David Swift.

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FOUR  Blacktown suburbs are among the top 20 in the state most at risk from asbestos but many residents are unaware of the danger.

Seven Hills, Lalor Park, Blacktown and Doonside make the list, a report compiled by the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union says.

The suburbs form part of what is known as the “asbestos belt” of Sydney and are home to hundreds of post-war houses built using cement asbestos fibro.

Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia president Barry Robson, who lives in Blackett, said many people in the community were unaware of the risk.

“A lot of people don’t realise that they are living in an asbestos cement fibro home, commonly known as a fibro home,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people moving in to the area. They’re first-home buyers and they don’t realise the dangers of these homes and they’re starting to renovate.

“People do a renovation, they drill, break and even use high-pressure machines to clean the walls.

A house being treated for asbestos in the Blacktown area, where a large number of homes were built using the deadly fibre. Picture: David Swift.

“The water breaks down the binding, thus releasing the deadly fibres into the atmosphere. That’s how it becomes airborne and dangerous, not only for themselves but their families and their neighbours.

“The problem is you can’t smell it, you can’t see it, you can’t taste it. You don’t know you’ve got a disease until it presents in your body.

“It could take 10, 20, 40 years even for the disease to present itself. It’s one of the biggest health issues in the city of Blacktown.”

Any fibro house built before 1987 would have asbestos, not only on the outside walls but in the eaves, laundry, kitchen and bathroom areas, Mr Robson said.

His advice to home renovators living in asbestos fibro houses was unequivocal: “Don’t drill, don’t sand, don’t break and don’t use high-pressure machines.”

Jamie Eyles, who runs an asbestos removal business in Seven Hills, said he carried out up to 20 jobs in the Blacktown area a month.

“I do a lot of jobs in the area but there’s still a lot of people – homeowners – who are doing renovations,” he said.

“I wouldn’t advise it because, potentially, if it’s not done correctly, even if it’s a one-off exposure, it can contaminate your home and endanger your neighbours.”

He has seen a flood of asbestos removal contractors entering the market over the 16 years he’s been in the business.

He said while increased awareness had tightened up industry regulations, there were still some “dodgy” contractors.

Greenway Labor MP Michelle Rowland

“As far as people doing the wrong thing (illegally dumping asbestos), I don’t know anyone personally but there’s still a lot going on,’’ Mr Eyles said.

Greenway federal Labor MP Michelle Rowland said asbestos was a huge issue in her electorate, which took in the “asbestos belt”.

“It has particularly become an issue as home renovations and knock-down-rebuild has become popular,” she said.

“People don’t realise you only need a very small amount of fibre for you to be potentially affected by a fatal set of diseases. I’ve met with many families and community members who have lost loved ones because of asbestos-related diseases.”

Blacktown Mayor Stephen Bali said illegally dumped asbestos was a costly issue for the council.

“It costs council a lot of money because we have to remove it,” he said.

“We’ve put up cameras in bushland that have identified asbestos dumpers, so we have been proactive in clamping down on it.”

‘IT ONLY TAKES ONE FIBRE’

WHAT should have been a harmless activity helping his father build poultry sheds in the 1960s and 70s turned out to be a ticking time bomb for Reg Day.

Mr Day died of mesothelioma in 2001. His widow, Eileen, from Lalor Park, said her husband started working with his dad in his poultry shed contracting business when he was 14.

Reg Day

“The roofing was full of asbestos,” she said. “He used to use a handkerchief over his face to protect himself, unfortunately that didn’t do any good.

“40 years later he was diagnosed.

It only takes one fibre to get into your body, it lies dormant all of those years and it starts to grow.”

Mrs Day said her husband’s diagnosis in 1999 came as a shock to the family.

“The doctor said it was a type of lung cancer called Mesothelioma,” she said.

“We looked it up on the internet to see what it was and it was as a death sentence.

“It’s something you never think will happen to you but it does, it shattered all of our lives.

“It’s the type of disease it doesn’t matter if you are young or old, it still kills.”

Lalor Park resident Eileen Day’s husband died of mesothelioma in 2001. Picture: David Swift.

Mr Day was 54 when he died, leaving behind his wife, four children and five grandchildren he never met.

“He didn’t get to see his children married, that’s the hard part of it,” Mrs Day said.

“He’s not the only one. Thousands of Australians have worked with it and didn’t know there was any danger.”

Mrs Day has been a member of the Asbestos Disease Foundation of Australia since 1999.

Today she is secretary of the organisation, which works to provide support to people living with asbestos related diseases and their family and friends.

“The support we’ve had from members has been fantastic,” she said.

“That’s why I’m involved still, because I want to give back to other people.”