Asbestos found at Sydney Harbour Bridge left uncovered - ABC Local

By Nonee Walsh and staff

Updated June 14, 2013 09:18:40

The NSW Roads and Maritime Service (RMS) has admitted that asbestos uncovered at the Sydney Harbour Bridge was not immediately sealed after it was uncovered earlier this week.

About 35 maintenance workers walked off the job with the agreement of management yesterday after the asbestos was found, and they are due to hear a report on the safety of the historic bridge today.

Meanwhile, a separate clean-up is underway to remove piles of broken asbestos believed to have been thrown from a truck in Sydney's inner west in the early hours of this morning.

RMS initially issued a statement saying the site of the Harbour Bridge asbestos discovery had been immediately isolated and sealed after plumbers had uncovered asbestos pipes under cement.

But when asked by the ABC about eyewitness accounts of uncovered asbestos, it issued a "clarification".

"Once testing determined the presence of asbestos, the area was isolated," RMS said in a statement.

Construction Mining and Forestry Union safety co-ordinator Michael Preston says he was called to a site near the southern pylon of the bridge yesterday after a worker noticed a pile of asbestos.

"When I got to the site there was still some open pieces just in the bin, and they were in the process of taping up the rest, getting it ready to send off," Mr Preston said.

Airborne asbestos can cause life-threatening lung diseases, often many years after exposure.

Mr Preston says an exclusion zone should be set up immediately if asbestos is found, before specialist asbestos workers wearing protective equipment seal the area.

But Mr Preston says he witnessed people bagging the asbestos in an un-cordoned area yesterday morning, without protective equipment.

No one from RMS was available to speak directly to the ABC about the incident.

A spokesperson says workers were allowed to leave the job yesterday so the asbestos could be removed.

"We are coming across it daily on construction sites, workers are being exposed and it is just not being dealt with seriously enough, anywhere," Mr Preston said.

Topics: asbestos, sydney-2000

First posted June 14, 2013 08:31:24