Work on family’s asbestos roof ‘series of disasters’
Sharon and John Bailey contracted PDS to remove an asbestos roof at their Pukekohe lifestyle block last May.
Work allegedly started three months late and Bailey said it was “a series of disasters”.
When the PDS workers ran out of tarpaulins, the Baileys said they used rubbish bags to cover holes. When the roof was removed, asbestos fibres and debris fell into the house, they claimed.
“Graeme told us we could return to the house each night because there would be a thorough clean-up before workers left for the day,” Sharon Bailey said.
“When we returned home there was dust everywhere, on the furniture, through our clothes and belongings.”
In September, she called WorkSafe, raising issues including possible asbestos contamination.
They also reported inexperienced staff working at height and contractors up ladders working “in jandals or gumboots”.
The asbestos tests came back positive and they had to move out immediately.
PDS was ordered not to return and another firm decontaminated the property. Another was paid to re-roof: “It has cost $160,000 so far and is still going. Nothing is covered by insurance because it’s contamination.”
Raymond said a supervisor on the Jutland Rd property had allowed workers on the roof without safety gear and had been let go.
Any contamination at the property was already there, he said.
“That roof leaked . . . the carpets were already contaminated.”