More than 550 employees who worked at two ABC studios in Melbourne have been listed on a confidential asbestos register documenting those who were potentially exposed to the deadly material.
An internal spreadsheet viewed by this masthead, which details current and former staff who may have been exposed to airborne asbestos fibres, lays bare the extent of possible exposure at the ABC’s old television studios in Elsternwick, which operated until 2017, and Broadcast House in the CBD, which was home to ABC radio until 1995.
Helen Robertson, 80, was recently diagnosed with pockets of asbestos in her lungsCredit: Justin McManus
The spreadsheet includes the names, addresses, exposure sites and X-ray dates of 552 staff who are thought to have been directly exposed to the carcinogenic material between the 1950s and 2010s.
Last month, The Age revealed that at least four former ABC employees had died from asbestosis or mesothelioma linked to their potential exposure to asbestos at the public broadcaster. This masthead can now reveal that a fifth death is also potentially linked to asbestos exposure in these studios.
Those who have died include former technical staff and a broadcaster.
The development comes as the ABC confirmed it was funding asbestos screenings for current and former staff who believe they may have been exposed to asbestos while working in ABC workplaces.
While the Community and Public Sector Union and former employees have welcomed the move, they want the ABC to notify former employees of their potential exposure.
Helen Robertson was diagnosed with pockets of asbestos in her lungs in 2023. The former ABC employee, who worked at Broadcast House in Lonsdale Street for three years in the mid-1960s, sought medical help after suffering from a persistent cough.
Her respiratory doctor asked if she had had any known exposure to asbestos. At the time, she was unaware of the asbestos cluster at the ABC and said no.
The ABC’s former Elsternwick studios.Credit: ABC
But after reading last month’s Age article, Robertson, now 80, wonders whether she breathed in asbestos while working in a small studio.
“It was pretty old and dusty,” she said of the studio. “I would put together all the records for playing and take them to the presenters.”
Robertson said the ABC should be contacting all former staff who might have been exposed to asbestos.
“There would be a lot of people coughing with respiratory issues who don’t necessarily go to a doctor; they might think it is winter,” she said.
While Robertson was initially shocked by her diagnosis, she remains upbeat.
“If you’ve got a reasonable life, you’ve got to get on with it,” she said. Her name is not listed on the ABC’s register.
Another former ABC employee, who did not want to disclose his name for privacy reasons but who is listed on the register, is nervously awaiting the results of a lung scan, which the ABC has funded.
“If I get diagnosed with something relating to asbestos, I don’t know what the rest of my life will look like,” he said. “I am hoping I don’t have anything.”
He said he had been exposed to asbestos many times during his career at the Elsternwick studios from the early 1980s to 2010s.
“It was underneath the vinyl tiles and in the ceiling. It was everywhere,” he said.
Jocelyn Gammie, secretary of the ABC section of the Community and Public Sector Union, said the union was working with ABC management to ensure staff had access to free and timely testing for potential asbestos exposure.
“We have raised with the ABC that proactive efforts must be made to ensure that all former workers who may have been exposed to asbestos at work are notified of the potential exposure and offered free testing,” she said.
“The CPSU will continue to work closely with ABC management to monitor progress.”
An ABC spokesman said the broadcaster was strongly committed to supporting current and former staff who believe they may have been exposed to asbestos in ABC workplaces.
“With that in mind, any current or former ABC employees who believe they may have been exposed to asbestos, would like to access ABC-funded asbestos screening, who are suffering from an asbestos or dust-related illness, or have any other concerns, can … contact … the ABC through the dedicated email address abcinjurymanagement@abc.net.au, which is monitored Monday to Friday,” the spokesman said.
Data obtained by this masthead under freedom-of-information laws shows that Comcare, which administers the Commonwealth’s workers’ compensation scheme, has also compensated four former ABC employees who contracted asbestos-related diseases after1990. The settlements were all reached in the past four years.
The number of claims is expected to increase because there is often a decades-long lag between asbestos exposure and a diagnosis of a related disease, such as mesothelioma or asbestosis.
Mesothelioma is one of the most deadly and aggressive forms of lung cancer, and most sufferers typically die within four to 18 months after diagnosis.
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