Narre Warren South residents Heather Ostell and Janene Rudd are concerned that construction workers are not treating asbestos material with enough care.
By Rebecca Fraser
RESIDENT fears that the demolition of an asbestos-lined facility could pose a health hazard have been dismissed by land developers.
Narre Warren South locals living near the former Oakwood Riding School on Narre Warren-Cranbourne Road raised concerns about the site last week.
They feared that construction workers were not taking the correct safety precautions when tearing down the old facility, known to house some asbestos.
The riding school is being torn down to make way for the development of a private prep to year 12 college scheduled to open next year.
A spokesperson for the riding school, which occupied the site since the 1950s, confirmed to the News this week that the site did have a contained amount of asbestos.
But she said the new owner, Australian Childcare Development, was well aware of this when it purchased the property and had carried out its own asbestos audit.
Tom Mould, the chief executive of Independent Colleges of Australia, which will open a school at the site, this week said the demolition team had taken all necessary precautions when removing the asbestos.
He said the asbestos had been removed first and disposed of safely before the workers continued with the remaining demolition.
“There was a small amount of asbestos removed in accordance to the permit issued by the relevant authorities,” Mr Mould said. “They followed the letter of the law and there was a full asbestos audit.”
Danny Busatta, general manager of Delta Pty Ltd, which is carrying out the demolition, also said the asbestos removal had complied with all relevant permits and WorkSafe standards.
He said air monitoring had been conducted after the asbestos removal and a hygienist had visited the site and undertaken a visual inspection.
Mr Busatta said a formal certificate had been received that the site was now clean of asbestos.
Nearby residents Heather Ostell and Janene Rudd said they were worried that if the asbestos was not contained it could travel for miles and might pose a health hazard for residents and children at many nearby schools and kindergartens.
Ms Ostell said she was concerned that workers had not been wearing protective clothing and questioned the disposal method for the asbestos.
Ms Rudd said she had been worried that windy weather could have carried asbestos particles into neighbouring suburbs and said she was not entirely satisfied with the response given by the demolition workers.
She said she still believed there was asbestos in many of the riding school buildings and believed construction workers should have cocooned the entire site when tearing it down.
