By Martin O'Byrne
MELBOURNE — A legal firm here is planning to take action against the state Ministry of Housing over the death of a public tenant from an asbestos-related disease.
Last September 10, Doreen Porter died from mesothelioma of the lung after living in a Ministry of Housing three-bedroom house in Braybrook for 40 years. Mrs Porter worked at home for most of her life and is unlikely to have been exposed to an alternative source of asbestos.
According to an asbestos audit report commissioned by the Department of Planning and Development, Mrs Porter's house contained substantial amounts of chrysolite and amosite asbestos in the exterior of the building, under the eaves, in the ceiling, laundry, toilet, hallway, lounge and in the front door.
Mesothelioma is caused by swallowing or inhaling asbestos fibres. It can cause cancer of the lung lining, of the stomach, bowels or abdomen. People with mesothelioma rarely live longer than 12-18 months after diagnosis. It is an extremely painful way to die, and there is no known cure, according to the Victorian Asbestos Diseases Society.
Slater and Gordon, a legal firm acting on behalf of Doreen Porter's daughter, on May 11 announced plans for legal action against the Ministry of Housing in the County Court. Simon Weir, a lawyer with Slater and Gordon, said, "The onus of responsibility is clearly upon the Department of Planning and Development to ensure public tenants are not exposed to loose asbestos fibres within their homes. We believe that Mrs Porter's death was due to the negligence of the Department of Planning and Development and Slater and Gordon intend to issue proceedings of behalf of Mrs Porter's legal estate."
Nearly all the public flats and houses in the Braybrook/Maidstone public housing estate have some form of asbestos in them. Asbestos sheeting in public homes is often poorly encapsulated with only a thin layer of paint or not covered at all with any protective covering (e.g. asbestos sheeting surrounds around gas fires).
Moreover, the Ministry of Housing and the Residential Tenancies Tribunal do not classify loose asbestos, which may be releasing asbestos fibres into the air, as requiring urgent repair. A public tenant may have to wait several months to have asbestos sheeting repaired or removed, if it is done at all.
The Ministry of Housing provides little information to public tenants about the risks of having asbestos in their homes and has not complied with Victorian occupational health and safety regulations which require all employers to begin an asbestos audit of all workplaces by October 1992. Public tenants have a right to know exactly where asbestos is located in their homes.
Simon Weir said that an asbestos register had been set up at his tenants who believed that asbestos in their homes had affected their health to come forward.
Neil MacDonald, chairperson of the Braybrook/Maidstone Public Tenants Union, said "We may be only dealing with the tip of the iceberg. Exposure to asbestos can cause asbestosis, lung cancer, mesothelioma and gastrointestinal cancers. Many other public tenants may have contracted an asbestos-related disease and may not know it has been caused by their house."
He called on the Ministry of Housing to begin a rolling program of asbestos removal in all public housing. "We do not expect the Ministry of Housing to remove asbestos in every public home overnight, but a start must be made now", he said.
"There are no safe levels of asbestos exposure. It takes only one asbestos fibre lodging in a lung to cause mesothelioma. How many more deaths have to occur before the government is prepared to act? People's health and safety must come before government cost cutting exercises."
[Martin O'Byrne is a public housing worker in Melbourne's western suburbs.]