A Cairnlea mother may remove her son from his local primary school following the discovery of more asbestos at a nearby building site.
Brimbank mayor John Hedditch said owners of 93 Furlong Road “need the book thrown at them” after construction waste, containing asbestos from a demolished Carlton pub, was dumped late last month.
The Environment Protection Authority said in a statement last Wednesday that building sheet fragments discovered at the site contained asbestos.
That announcement came days after the EPA had given the site an all clear following “unannounced works” the previous Friday (November 4) by the site owners under the supervision of asbestos risk specialists.
The EPA said it received an “asbestos clearance letter” from the site owners’ solicitors confirming all asbestos had been safely removed.
An inspection the following day, during which samples of building material were taken, also raised no issues for the nearby community, the EPA said at the time.
But in light of Wednesday’s announcement about building sheet fragments, Cairnlea mother of two Marlina Sterio said at an EPA-run information session last Thursday that she might pull her 10-year-old son out of Cairnlea Primary School, which is 200 metres down the road from the dumped asbestos.
“I feel ridiculously uneasy,” she said. “I was going to take him out of school – it’s still an option. He was pretty stressed about going back to school. It’s very upsetting.”
Cr Hedditch said the “rogue behaviour” of the site owners should engender the full force of the law.
“They [the site owners] need the book thrown at them,” he said.
“A big book. It’s not been fixed up quickly enough.”
EPA chief executive officer Nial Finegan told
Star Weekly the conduct of the site owners had been “disgraceful” but “the risk is close to zero, there’s no real risk”.
He said .05 cubic metres of asbestos had been recovered from the site so far.
According to the EPA, WorkSafe has demanded the site owners take new measures to reduce the risk to the community. The EPA says the owners are required to inform Cairnlea Primary and surrounding residents before any asbestos material is removed. They must conduct daily inspections to ensure that the rubble remains covered and all waste must be removed before the end of the month.
Brimbank council is considering legal action against the owners.
