Union worried about worker safety after Sydney Metro asbestos find

THE Electrical Trades Union is demanding assurances their workers will not be put at risk after asbestos was found at the Sydney Metro facility in Rouse Hill last week.

Work had to be stopped for a few days before asbestos was removed from the Sydney Metro Trains Facility. Picture: Troy Snook

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THE Electrical Trades Union is demanding assurances their workers will not be put at risk after asbestos was found at the Sydney Metro Trains Facility at Tallawong Rd, Rouse Hill, last week.

The union also wants lung capacity testing undertaken for those working in affected areas, air quality testing for surrounding neighbourhoods, and asbestos awareness training for all workers on the $8.3 billion project.

Transport for NSW, however, said the site is now safe and work resumed last Friday morning after being halted on the Monday, when material believed to be asbestos was found at two locations at the facility.

The Rouse Hill station under construction. Picture: Adam Ward

Electrical Trades Union secretary Dave McKinley said it is worrying the asbestos was not detected before work commenced several months ago.

“We are concerned that more than 100 workers have been exposed to this material,” Mr McKinley said.

“Let’s be perfectly clear, any form of asbestos is potentially deadly.

“It appears that the people in charge of this project put budgets and timelines ahead of human lives.

“We want to know why this material wasn’t detected in pre-work surveys and where the register of hazardous materials that it should appear on has gone.”

The new rail overpass across Windsor Road at Rouse Hill is similar in design to the Anzac Bridge in Sydney. Picture: David Swift

Transport for NSW, however, said when the asbestos was confirmed on site, the area was closed off.

“On Wednesday, August 15, testing results confirmed that it was bonded asbestos,” a TfNSW spokesman said.

“The area has remained isolated with no work permitted to be undertaken in this location to ensure the safety of the workforce as per standard protocols for when this type of finding occurs.

“Some asbestos has been safely removed from site and remaining material continues to be isolated on site.

“Air quality monitoring has been completed on site the morning of Friday, August 18.”

Mr McKinley said they have been unable to locate the hazardous materials register for the site, which head contractor NRT Project — a consortium of John Holland, Cimic, Leightons and UGL — are required by law to maintain.

A worked at the Sydney Metro site at Rouse Hill. Picture: Troy Snook

“Given that there has been heavy machinery operating in the nearby area, it’s hard to see how it would not have become loose and airborne,” Mr McKinley said.

“We also fear that visitors to the Buddhist temple (at Schofields) that backs onto the site along with local residents could have also been exposed.”

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Mr McKinley said he wanted an explanation of why workers were sent back to affected areas after the initial discovery, and demanded an agreed independent hygienist survey all Sydney Metro North West sites to determine their safety.

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■ The ETU is urging anyone who may have potentially been exposed, either because they worked on the project or live in the surrounding area, to sign up to the national asbestos exposure register.