Slide 1 – Title slide
Where are the current and future asbestos exposure risks in Australia?Alison ReidCurtin University
Slide 2 – Asbestos use in Australia
• Mined crocidolite and chrysotile for more than 100 years
• Highest consumer of asbestos globally per capita, every capital city had an asbestos manufacturing plant
• Over 60% of production and 90% of consumption – asbestos cement
• 25% of all built houses until the 1960s clad in asbestos cement
• Legacy today of past asbestos use in our built environment
Slide 3 – Terms and definitions
• Bonded asbestos – where the asbestos fibres are held within a matrix of other material – eg cement
• Friable asbestos - asbestos containing material that when dry, is or may be crumbled, pulverised or reduced to powder by hand pressure
• Weathering – corrosion or rain, sun wind, frost altering the structural property of asbestos over time
• ACM – asbestos containing material
• DIY - Do-it-Yourself
• EHO –Environmental Health Officer
• Class A removalist – licenced to remove friable asbestos
• Class B removalist – licenced to remove bonded asbestos only
Slide 4 – Aims
• To identify the current known sources of asbestos containing material in Australia
• To identify where it may be in poor condition, friable or at risk of releasing fibres
• To identify the future sources of asbestos exposure
Slide 5 – Methods – literature review
• Published literature
• Grey literature (e.g. state plans, reports)
• Media reports (2007-2015)
Slide 6 – Telephone interviews (n=49)
• Asbestos removalists
• Asbestos assessors
• Environmental Health Officers
• Remote Program Officer
• Regional Waste Management Coordinator – NT
• ACT Asbestos Response Taskforce Member
Slide 7 – Telephone interviews
• Questions informed by what we found in the literature review
• General impressions of insitu asbestos – types/amounts/condition
• Current removal practice – what is being removed?
• Weathering/illegal dumping/contaminated soil/fire damage/storms and cyclone damage/DIY
• Future risks – what product is not being removed now?
Slide 7 – Asbestos content in ACM
Slide 8 – Bonded ACM
• Most asbestos product in the built environment is bonded asbestos cement sheeting
• Uses: internal walls, external cladding, fencing, roofing and vinyl floor tiles
• Where: residential, public and commercial buildings and industrial premises
• New South Wales, Western Australia, Northern Territory
Slide 9 – Friable asbestos
• Friable asbestos seen less frequently than bonded
• Uses: electrical millboard, pipe lagging and insulation
• Where: residential, public and commercial buildings, industrial premises
• “At least 50% of properties we look at would have a friable asbestos situation,” (Assessor, ACT (industrial premises)).
Slide 10 – Current condition
• Asbestos products can show signs of deterioration (fibre release) after 15 years
• All removalists and EHOs reported seeing asbestos products in poor condition (where release of fibres was likely)
• Variable frequency – daily to monthly
• What: roofing and external building materials
• 20 removalists & EHOs commented on poor condition of roofing
• 9 removalists thought most of the asbestos in poor condition likely to be in commercial and industrial buildings
Slide 11 – What’s not being removed
• Asbestos cement roofs
• “[You] can’t just remove it, [you] need to replace it. A roofing removal may be in excess of $50,000.” (Class A, NT).
• “It’s extremely dangerous... We try to avoid getting involved.” (Class A, Vic).
• Other inaccessible product – generally friable (e.g. lagging around pipes)
Slide 12 – Future risks of exposure
Weathering of insitu asbestos
• “It’s been 20 years since you could build an asbestos roof… Most of those will be looking at being replaced,” (Class A, Vic).
• Literature: asbestos fibre release due to weathering is low
Clean up after storms and cyclones
• “People are cutting it to make it smaller for disposal. That’s where the risk is,” (EHO, QLD).
Fire damage
• “Fire department and other people walking around the site after the fire has been put out… with no dust mask, just sorting through the rubble,” (Assessor, Tas).
Slide 13 – Future risks of exposure
Illegal dumping
• Widespread problem
• “Some people have to drive up to 200kms to actually dispose of it legally,” (Class A, Vic).
Contaminated soil
• “In the next 30 years… we’ll have to go digging up that rubbish… They are under existing buildings, and we are only just starting to demolish and to discover the legacy of what’s been buried… That’s going to be huge,” (Class A, Vic).
Demolition, home renovation and Do-It-Yourself
• “Since the Block and those kind of shows… there’s a lot more households and a lot more women being exposed to it,” (Class A, Vic).
Slide 14 – Future risks of exposure
Commercial and industrial premises
• “Gradually being removed, but usually at the request of a regulator enforcing it, as it becomes an unsafe workplace.” (Assessor, ACT).
Unsafe asbestos removal
• “How is the homeowner to know if they decontaminated it properly?” (Class B, QLD).
• “We do a lot of remediation work on places that have already come through and they’ve done a poor job.” (Class A, QLD).
Contaminated sites
• Old mine sites, old asbestos manufacturing factories, decommissioned power stations
• Remain unremediated and accessible to the public
Slide 15 – Future risks of exposure
Government buildings
• Schools were an issue for one EHO, who spoke of needing to remove insulation and fibrous cement ceilings. Children were below asbestos fibres falling from the ceiling (EHO, QLD).
• Recent asbestos audits in several states found large amounts of insitu asbestos across all departments
Indigenous communities and land
• “If you go out to a remote community, you can find it every time”. (Regional Waste Management Coordinator, NT)
Slide 16 – Conclusion
“Asbestos infrastructure remediation is in its infancy in Australia. Our grandchildren will inherit this business” (Class B, QLD).
Slide 17 – Acknowledgements
Corie Gray
Ashleigh Durosielle
Lydia Cook
School of Public Health, Curtin University