Theatre workshop contaminated
ASBESTOS FOUND
Staff at Christchurch’s Court Theatre have had health checks and a backstage area has been decontaminated after asbestos was discovered in part of the building.
An inspection in January found dust contaminated with a ‘‘high concentration’’ of white and the more dangerous brown asbestos on the floor of the workshop space at the back of the Court Theatre’s warehouse building in Addington. The asbestos is from the warehouse’s corrugated roof material.
About four people work in the workshop, building props and sets for shows. No asbestos was found in the theatre space where the public watch shows and air testing came back clear.
Testing company K2 did the January testing and filed a report in February. The report concluded ‘‘there is a risk to health from asbestoscontaining dust’’ in the affected areas, there was a risk of it becoming airborne if disturbed, and action was required to remove it.
Court Theatre chief executive Philip Aldridge said there was no health risk as regular testing in the building showed the asbestos was not airborne, which is when it can be dangerous. He said the
contaminated areas had been successfully cleaned and the roof had been encapsulated.
‘‘All areas of the theatre, public and private, are safe and in use. We remain confident that the building remains safe,’’ he said.
‘‘We have actively monitored the situation and routinely tested the building and never has a trace of asbestos been found in the air samples. This is the case in all the areas of the building, both public and private.’’
Some staff are ‘‘furious’’ because they raised concerns about asbestos contamination found in the building in 2014 and felt not enough was done in response.
Staff members, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the way the company had handled the asbestos contamination was ‘‘abhorrent’’.
‘‘The whole time management insisted ‘it’s fine, we’re doing everything we can’. It’s been total lip service,’’ one said.
Another said: ‘‘As far as workers being looked after, it is pretty shocking.’’
Aldridge said the affected areas were cleaned in 2014. Tests had found asbestos contamination and members of the Court Theatre’s health and safety committee drafted a letter to Aldridge raising concerns.
Aldridge said staff had been ‘‘kept informed and have been given expert training which has reassured us that there is no risk to health and safety from exposure to asbestos’’.
The 2018 contamination was discovered after theatre staff opened an external door that had been closed for years and workers on a neighbouring site raised asbestos concerns.
‘‘We contacted WorkSafe and had the areas tested. When traces of asbestos were found in dust, WorkSafe issued a prohibition notice and we closed the affected areas,’’ Aldridge said.
Aldridge said industrial cleaners were hired but ‘‘failed to follow correct procedures, so we sourced an alternative contractor’’.
A staff member said the first cleaners spread ‘‘vast plumes of undisturbed dust’’ around the workshop.
‘‘There was black, sooty dust over everything. The tools, the surfaces. It was over everywhere, over everything. If this dust was laden with asbestos, it was all airborne.’’
A staff member took photos, provided to Stuff, of the dust.
Aldridge said after the second company finished the clean-up work, testing by an independent specialist contractor showed the cleaning was effective and no traces remained. He reiterated all air testing done showed no contamination and any undisturbed dust posed no health risk.
‘‘We went back to WorkSafe [a stringent process is required and has been followed] and it lifted the prohibition notice.’’
WorkSafe’s assessments chief inspector for the Southern region, Darren Handforth, said they were alerted to the asbestos contamination on February 14. A prohibition notice was placed on the workshop and was not lifted until May 16. He said the whole building was tested and asbestos dust was found only in the workshop. Asbestos contamination was also found ‘‘in one part of the rehearsal space’’, but this was residue from the workshop.
‘‘WorkSafe is satisfied that the risk is now being appropriately managed,’’ Handforth said.
Staff members said workers concerned by the contamination opted to go on the asbestos register. They received chest X-rays and spirometer tests for any signs of lung disease, which they would do annually. Health checks are not a requirement of the register.
The K2 report called for the asbestos roofing to be sealed, covered over, or removed – removal being the ‘‘only way to ensure the asbestos hazard is eliminated’’.
The report states the Court Theatre car park could be contaminated with asbestos due to rain run-off. It said contaminated dust found in the workshop could become air borne from ground vibrations from earthquakes, trains or nearby industry.
Aldridge said the asbestos in the roof was ‘‘a concern’’ when they moved into the building in 2011.
‘‘When taking up the lease we asked the landlord to replace the roof. This has not happened and remains a discussion with the landlord,’’ he said.