North Shore Times (New Zealand)
Asbestos control costs $1.25M over two years
Auckland Council has spent roughly $1.25 million on asbestos-related work in the past two years.
Information provided in an Official Information Request revealed asbestos work, including control or removal, had taken place at 17 locations in 11 local boards between June 2015 and April 2017.
Six of those locations were in the Rodney and Hibiscus and Bays local board areas.
The information noted asbestos-related costs were often not separated from overall capital or repair and maintenance costs and may only involve laboratory testing, with no further work if results were negative.
In other cases, it may have involved control measures like removal or sealing.
‘‘Asbestos control and removal is regularly carried out on council facilities as a precautionary measure to prevent potential risks to the community, as required by health and safety regulations,’’ the information revealed.
Asbestos-related work was carried out at the Torbay Community Hall, Mairangi Arts Centre, and East Coast Bays Community Centre in the Hibiscus and Bays area.
Secretary of the New Zealand Demolition and Asbestos Association Terry Coleman said the Health and Safety at Work (Asbestos) Regulations, introduced in April 2016, meant all commercial properties built before 2000 needed to be surveyed for asbestos.
‘‘Whatever your situation, you have a responsibility that no-one is put at harm, so have to have controls in place, if working with asbestos or if your building has it,’’ Coleman said.
‘‘Effectively all council buildings built before 2000 need a management survey and a survey on the building to look for asbestos and to assess the condition of it ... It doesn’t matter if it’s an office or a storage shed.’’
Coleman said building owners had a responsibility to know where asbestos was and what state it was in.
He said not all asbestos is dangerous or a risk but, if asbestos was found, the highest-risk areas would be dealt to first.
The Official Information Act request said asbestos was only harmful when airborne, breathed in and settled into the lungs. It said 95 per cent of asbestos in New Zealand was embedded in cement and when the asbestos was not easily crumbled it was harmless.