Asbestos fears dismissed

A Woodend house undergoing renovations was taped off with warning signs following residents' complaints. Photo: Chris Fleming

Kylie Kitchen

The site of a proposed funeral parlour in residential Woodend is the subject of an asbestos risk.
Neighbouring residents are alarmed at the potential asbestos exposure they may have suffered during brick cladding removal at the Forest Street property last week.
When works began, residents suspicious the cladding could contain asbestos had four samples lab tested, resident Effie Konstantinidis says.
Ms Konstantinidis says the results returned positive for asbestos.
Neighbours approached Macedon Ranges Council and WorkSafe with their concerns, but both saw no reason to question the owner's asbestos audit which returned a negative result.
"The community is really distressed," Ms Konstantinidis says.
"Why do they trust (the owner) and not trust us? Why are they satisfied with the negative result but not satisfied with the positive result?"
With asbestos dangers so high, neighbours are appalled their concerns were taken so lightly.
"We don't want it to be positive (for asbestos)," Ms Konstantinidis says.
"We're not doing this to say to the council, 'we're right and your wrong', we just want to be safe.
"The council have not ensured the community is safe."
Neighbours called on council and WorkSafe to undertake independent asbestos testing of the site.
"What we need is a third party to come and take a sample and they weren't willing to do that," Ms Konstantinidis says.
"How's it going to hurt anybody to do a third sample?"
The neighbours' testing is invalid to council and WorkSafe as it was illegally obtained and the source of the test material cannot be proved.
Ms Konstantinidis argues council and WorkSafe are also unable to positively confirm the source of the material tested in the owner's audit.
"We could have been exposed to asbestos and the council's not doing anything about it," Ms Konstantinidis says.
"So now we have to wait 20 or 30 years to find out if anyone in the neighbourhood gets sick.
"If the positive is correct, and I don't understand why a laboratory would be wrong, they're all going to be accountable."
Despite the owner's audit stating a negative asbestos result, and council and WorkSafe endorsing the document, signage reading 'DANGER ASBESTOS REMOVAL IN PROGRESS and tape reading, 'DANGER ASBESTOS DUST HAZARD', surrounded the property last Friday.
WorkSafe inspected the site last week to investigate the potential exposure to asbestos during the demolition works.
"The builder conducting the refurbishment works had an asbestos audit conducted on the building being refurbished and the analysis of samples confirmed there was no asbestos containing material on the house," a WorkSafe spokesperson said.
"As a precautionary measure and to ease concerns of residents, the owner of the site engaged a licensed asbestos removalist last week to remove any remaining materials on the house despite the analysis confirming that the samples did not contain asbestos fibres.
"WorkSafe returned to the site to ensure the removal was carried out efficiently. WorkSafe is satisfied with how the matter was handled."
Council defended it's decision against undertaking independent asbestos tests of the site. 
"In this instance the landowner opted to undertake their own sampling to ensure there was no risk of asbestos affecting them or surrounding residents," planning manager, Rick Traficante explained.
"Council has been in close communication with the owner to ensure that the works do not pose a safety hazard to the community. 
"Council is satisfied from the certificates provided by the accredited asbestos expert that the works do not pose a danger to the public."