Asbestos found in health board buildings

More than a third of all Bay of Plenty District Health Board’s hospital buildings have asbestos contamination, including a cancer centre, renal units, patient wards, a medical laboratory and kitchens.

Tauranga Hospital has 23 buildings that contain asbestos and Whakatane Hospital has 22. There are around 120 buildings across both hospitals.

The 45 affected buildings are listed on the Bay of Plenty District Health Board’s asbestos register which was obtained by the Weekend Herald under the Official Information Act.

The main hospital buildings contain no asbestos because they were built after 2000.

All the affected buildings are occupied but the DHB says all the asbestos is contained and poses no risk to people using the buildings.

“We are confident there is no risk whatsoever to our staff, patients, visitors or contractors of any issues related to potential asbestos exposure,” DHB property services manager Jeff Hodson said.

“Any asbestos which may be present is safely managed,” he said.

“Asbestos was a universally used building material up until the 1970s-80s in New Zealand and, as

Any asbestos which may be present is safely managed. Jeff Hodson, BOPDHB

such, its presence in buildings of that era or pre-dating it is not uncommon,” Hodson said.

The DHB said it had no immediate concerns about the asbestos, which was generally in the form of roofing, cladding or pipe insulation. Its presence had no impact on patient movement or clinical services.

“The board and executive take these matters very seriously. Additional resource has been put in place to address any known issues and to monitor the situation on an ongoing basis. The board receives regular updates and progress reports,” DHB chief executive Helen Mason said.

Hodson said there was an ongoing removal plan, “as and when required”, as part of other works.

Hodson said the DHB created a staff role earlier this year to deal solely with the asbestos issue. Eventually, that would be expanded to deal with other hazardous materials.

The removal would have no impact on the DHB’s financial situation and it had not informed the Ministry of Health of the issue.

Asbestos poses a negligible risk as long as the materials it is contained in are undamaged and have not deteriorated, which would release the dangerous fibres into the air.

Hodson said some of the asbestos was in a friable state (easily crumbled) but that was under buildings and vents had been closed off to prevent the spread of any asbestos fibres.

A spokeswoman for the ministry said it understood the DHB was actively managing the situation and “it has assured the ministry there is no risk to staff, patients and visitors relating to asbestos exposure. All health and safety issues are being addressed,” the spokeswoman said.

Health Minister David Clark said in a statement that as he visited DHBs he had encountered a range of building issues, including asbestos.