Asbestos story sparks fear | Warwick News | Local News in Warwick

Rosemary and Joonas Rasanen know all about the dangers of asbestos.

DESPITE working in the construction industry for many years and playing among asbestos rocks near his Finland home as a child, Joonas Rasanen has so far escaped any asbestos-related illness.

Coincidentally, his wife Rosemary’s father was a past employee of asbestos manufacturer James Hardie.

“We used to think cancer was for old people,” Mrs Rasanen said.

“I’m worried about schools with asbestos; children might end up with problems.”

The Warwick couple’s concerns come as Education Queensland released the Schools Asbestos Register, as reported in the Daily News yesterday.

Bonded asbestos in schools and homes is common, but caution should be exercised before removing it, warns Master Builders Downs and Western branch.

“Asbestos removal should be done by professionals,” regional manager Tony Ryder said.

Back in 1971 as a young apprentice builder Kevin Jeffery was paid to hammer up asbestos sheeting; 40 years later in full protective gear he is making a living removing the dangerous product.

An A-class licensed specialist, Mr Jeffery’s South Queensland Asbestos Removals company travels from Airlie Beach to Cunnamulla working on private and government buildings as concern about asbestos health legacy grows.

He said at the extreme his Warwick-based company has been employed to take older homes back to bare timber frames where owners wanted a 100 per cent asbestos-free building.

“In these cases it tends to be tree changers to the Southern Downs region buying older homes and then wanting the asbestos entirely removed,” Mr Jeffery said.

“But most of our work involves people renovating.

“If you have a house built before the mid-1980s chances are it will have asbestos in it.”

Mr Jeffery said the removal and disposal of asbestos in Queensland was tightly legislated.

“You need to be licensed to transport asbestos and it has to be double wrapped in plastic before you move it,” he said. “In Warwick it goes to the dump, is placed in a hole as landfill, then covered.

“Asbestos is trackable waste so movement has to be reported to the Environment Protection Agency and the burial point is recorded on GPS.”

He said stringent safe removal, handling and disposal legislation was in place to reduce health and environmental risks.

Despite his professional expertise Mr Jeffery admitted his own home, an older Queenslander, still contained asbestos.

“While it is in situ, asbestos does not cause any harm; it really is only when it is damaged or disturbed,” he said.

In relation to the latest Education Queensland register detailing the extent of asbestos use in state schools he said the scale was not surprising.

“It is a big job to remove it from schools, particularly given the fact it can obviously only be done out of hours,” he said. “But the product is everywhere, we all just need to be more aware of it.”