Two Months To Clear Asbestos, Says Expert

This is the estimated time because they don’t know how much they will find: New Zealand specialist in Suva

An expert says it will take at least two months to remove asbestos from the Suva Civic Centre building. This was confirmed by Pacifica Environmental Services chief executive officer Terry Coleman

However, Mr Coleman said this would depend on the quantity of asbestos found when they began demolition work.

He said this was only the estimated time given because no one knew what they would find. Mr Coleman said they intended to bring the best practice for Fiji because Fiji deserved the same health and safety standards as the rest of the world. According to the World Health Organisation asbestos causes the death rate of over 100,000 people per year that is about one person dies every five minute.

“This is preventable, if in good condition and handled correctly it is not harmful to people, it will only be harmful if it becomes airborne,” he said.

Mr Coleman said what really happened in Fiji was that work was carried out without realising the building had asbestos and this was common around the world. He said they had been meeting the Ministry of Employment and also the Suva City Council. However, he was confident that they had a good system in place for handling the situation.

He said Pacific Environment Services had been employed to put up air monitors around the building circumference and over the next few days they would put up air monitors in various locations also. Mr Coleman will travel to New Zealand on Monday and take the air monitors with him to be tested in a laboratory there so that the samples could be independently verified. He said by next Wednesday a report on the amount of asbestos, if any, is found in the air, would be determined. Personally, Mr Coleman said according to SPREPs report that there was 30 per cent of asbestos in the air which caused panic, speaking from his experience there would not have been much asbestos in the air because it would be hard to get readings 500 metres from the main job site.

He said the city council had an independent company coming in and known as Contract. It is a well respected company throughout the Pacific and they are going remove the asbestos material. Mr Coleman’s main role is to ensure the work is done properly. Mr Coleman, and Pacifica Regional manager Ashika Sharma, were called in by the Suva City Council. He said there was not much risk to the public.

“So should you wear a mask? If you’re worried, you should,” he said.