Workers who are renovating Sydney’s Museum of Contemporary Art have been exposed to asbestos, the construction union says.
Up to 400 workers may have come into contact with the carcinogenic fibres at the Circular Quay building, which is undergoing a multi-million-dollar government refit, the ABC reports.
Brian Parker, the NSW secretary of construction union CFMEU, says asbestos was found throughout the building.
“It was right over the building. We had asbestos that was in the sandstone joints. We had asbestos that was in the windows. We had asbestos in the lagging of the pipes,” Mr Parker told ABC television.
Workers have been cutting into asbestos without wearing masks since the project began a year ago, the union says.
“We have found evidence to the fact they have been knocking down walls, don’t care about the process in the way that the dust, asbestos fibres, could be floating through the air,” Mr Parker said.
“We suspect that there is about 400 workers that possibly could be affected by it.”
The project’s contractor, Watpac Constructions, should have known about the possibility of asbestos in the 1952 building, Mr Parker said.
“We have got concerns about a cover-up here because we know that the principal contractor on the job did have the asbestos register,” he said.
“If that was the case, why did they not allow workers to know on the site there was areas of contamination all over the place?”
Barry Robson from the Asbestos Diseases Foundation says worker won’t know for up to 40 years if they have been affected by asbestos.
“That is how long it takes for the diseases to present themselves,” Mr Robson told the ABC.
WorkCover is investigating the worksite and some work at the museum has been halted following the asbestos discovery.
NSW Planning Minister Brad Hazzard said a report had confirmed there was some asbestos in the mortar of the old sandstone building.
“For that reason the various workers who have been on site have been asked to have health assessments undertaken,” Mr Hazzard told Macquarie Radio.
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