Sydney family leaves home amid NBN asbestos safety breaches

Updated

A Sydney family is demanding answers from Telstra and the Federal Government over fears asbestos fibres have contaminated their home during the rollout of the National Broadband Network (NBN).

Work has stopped at some sites in New South Wales and Victoria, improvement notices issued in Tasmania, and Telstra subcontractors are being investigated for asbestos safety breaches by Comcare.

Thousands of telco-pits across Australia are being prepared for fibre optic cables, including old pits containing asbestos.

There are concerns the deadly fibres have been released into residential areas during the works.

Matthew O'Farrell, his wife and their two children aged 12 weeks and six years old have been moved out of their home in Penrith, in Sydney's west, and into a motel after being told there was asbestos in a pit outside their home and their street may have been contaminated.

"The first time I found out that this was asbestos, my stomach sank. I've been on edge ever since, nervous of everything I do. I started to get very paranoid about how far this stuff had got," he said.

"I've had no reassurance from anyone when we'll be able to go back to our home, when it is safe and whether my children or wife have come into contact or breathed in any of this material.

The first time I found out that this was asbestos, my stomach sank. I've been on edge ever since, nervous of everything I do. Matthew O'Farrell

"I just hope that over the next 20 years I'm not having to say to my children that they've got this from living in that house."

'It's just exploding everywhere'

Mr O'Farrell says the Telstra contractors who had been working on the pit had "no idea" what they were doing and he says some of them cannot speak English.

"I've watched the owner of the company communicate with them from metres away with hand signals, telling them to break up the pits with their hands and putting it into bags," he said.

"[They were] hitting the pits with sledgehammers, pitchforks and crowbars.

"It's just exploding everywhere, all over the road, down the driveways, all over the front yards of our properties."

'Urgent investigation'

Telstra has accepted complete responsibility for the cleanup of asbestos found during the rollout.

Telstra chief operations officer Brendon Riley said his team reacted immediately to the concerns of residents on the Penrith street earlier this month.

"As soon as we received the information we sent our team out to the pit to inspect the site and as a result immediately suspended the contractor from further work and safely secured the area," he said.

He says Telstra did further investigations.

"We also re-visited all sites remediated by this contractor to make sure the removal of asbestos was conducted in the appropriate way," he said.

"I ordered an urgent investigation into the incident and my team has been liaising regularly with the local residents including bringing in asbestos experts to talk to them.

"We understand this is a distressing time for the residents who have every right to expect that this type of work will be conducted safely and in accordance with the strictest of safety procedures."

Government taking safety breaches seriously

Communications Minister Stephen Conroy has moved to reassure the public that the Government is taking the safety breaches very seriously.

"The Office of Asbestos Safety will work closely with Comcare to address any asbestos hazards in a nationally coordinated way to protect Australians from asbestos exposure," he said.

"This is a very serious issue and as you know lives can be put at stake."

Comcare is investigating the work, health and safety systems of Telstra in Tasmania, New South Wales and Victoria.

The National Office of Asbestos Safety has also been called in to investigate.

Workplace Relations Minister Bill Shorten says the Government is working with Telstra and its contractors to address asbestos safety issues.

"We take any potential cases of asbestos exposure extremely seriously and a national approach to asbestos awareness, handling and eradication is urgently needed," he said.

"There is no excuse, if it's proven to have happened, for this to have happened full stop.

"Asbestos is a killer.

"We are determined to have a national action plan and I've spoken with Telstra about best practice."

Union calls for fund for future victims

The Union representing NBN technicians is calling for Telstra to set up a fund to pay for the care and treatment of future asbestos disease victims caused by poor asbestos management on the NBN project.

CEPU NSW assistant secretary Shane Murphy wants Telstra to set up a register for all workers who have been exposed to asbestos while working on the Telstra network.

"The impacts of this mess will be felt decades into the future," he said.

"Telstra needs to take responsibility for the health impact on its own workers as well as the broader community."

Subcontractors are 'cowboys'

Asbestos Diseases Foundation president Barry Robson says some of the subcontractors involved with the NBN work "are just cowboys".

"They had no protection, the four workers [in Penrith]," said Mr Robson.

"The residents tell me they just got stuck into this particular one, some of the workers smashed it all up ... asbestos went everywhere."

Kevin Harkins from Unions Tasmania says Comcare has not been checking sites often enough.

"Hopefully this will be a wake-up call, but Comcare don't have any officers based in Tasmania," he said.

"We need more people on the ground inspecting health and safety risks to employees and the community.

"As I understand it, in New South Wales, a number of houses have actually been evacuated because of the dangers of asbestos, we don't want that happening in Tasmania."

Topics: asbestos, health, computers-and-technology, information-and-communication, penrith-2750, australia, vic, tas, nsw

First posted