Under a $2.5 million NSW government contract a waiter, painter and retail sales manager who had no expertise in identifying asbestos was given the job of conducting asbestos audits in hundreds of New South Wales schools.

The NSW Ombudsman has released a report questioning the accuracy and reliability of the school’s asbestos registry. The Ombudsman has said that the NSW Department of Finance and Services chose a cheap tender to perform the audits in 2,335 New South Wales schools four years ago because they were more concerned with saving money then protecting people’s safety. As a result of the Department’s motivation to save money, all the audits had to be redone.

Deputy Ombudsman Chris Wheeler in his report confirmed that it is still uncertain how accurately the asbestos registers in NSW schools reveal the location of all asbestos containing materials. In addition to this uncertainty Wheeler raised the concern that perhaps all asbestos in these schools has yet to be identified.

The NSW asbestos audits are important so as to identify asbestos in NSW schools which can protect persons suffering asbestos related conditions such as mesothelioma.

Asbestos audits being conducted by unqualified persons may lead to many people being exposed to asbestos including students, staff, contractors that worked on the project and those that work at these schools in the future. This is a serious health concern as exposure to asbestos can cause a number of diseases including asbestosis and mesothelioma. The NSW Education Department will continue to work with Workcover to ensure the safety of the public in order to eliminate any chance of them contracting asbestos-related diseases including the cancer mesothelioma.

The Australia federal government has been engaged in an investigation into the possible disturbance of asbestos during the installation of satellite dishes in more then 1700 Australian homes as part of the digital TV rollout. Last year after discovering poorly trained contractors had dislodged asbestos from 20 Australian government owned homes during installation, the government decided to suspend the Satellite Subsidy scheme and launch two reviews of the program.

The first review revealed that out of 195 Australian government owned homes, 22 had experienced asbestos disturbance during the installation of satellites. However the question of whether asbestos disturbance is linked to the satellite dish installations is still unknown because the results of the second review have still not been released. The second review was conducted on a sample of 1733 privately owned Queensland homes who had satellites installed as part of the government program. The review and results were meant to be completed in December of last year however have still not been released.

If asbestos disturbance is found to have occurred in any of those privately owned homes Queensland, the Australian government is expected to review all the remaining privately owned homes in Queensland where installation by untrained contractors occurred. The federal government has confirmed that the 22 government homes where asbestos disturbance occurred have been cleaned up to the standards of the Queensland authorities.

Any works on Australian homes built prior to the mid 1980’s could involve the disturbing of asbestos, simply because in Australian homes built prior to this time, asbestos was often used as part of the construction. Home renovators in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia have pursued asbestos compensation claims following home renovator type asbestos exposure. Any exposure to asbestos can lead to one developing the asbestos related condition mesothelioma. Australia has one of the highest incidences of mesothelioma in the world per capita.

In an ironic twist, it seems that health-conscious Australians may be at increased risk of asbestos exposure than their unfit counterparts.

A UK university has revealed that some nanofibres that are used to make gym equipment are similar in shape to asbestos fibres, which if inhaled can cause asbestos related diseases such as asbestosis and pleural mesothelioma.

Scientists have conducted tests, injecting various nanofibres into the lungs of mice. While they found that the longer fibres became stuck in the lungs resulting in inflammation, further testing is required to determine whether the nanofibres are dangerous to humans and whether they can have a similar effect to asbestos.

Before the use of asbestos was banned in Australia, Australia had one of the highest users of asbestos per capita in the world. Hundreds of cases of mesothelioma occur in Australia each year. Specific legislation has been implemented in numerous Australian states, including New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, to assist those suffering asbestos conditions to pursue an asbestos compensation claim in Australia or mesothelioma compensation claim in Australia.

A vital aspect of Australia’s plan to become asbestos free by the year 2030 is the inspection of homes, schools and all public buildings in order to identify any presence of asbestos. The discovery of asbestos will allow for the appropriate action to be taken to dispose such dangerous material.

Asbestos is an extremely dangerous material and when inhaled it may cause very serious diseases such as asbestosis and mesothelioma. Therefore the need for asbestos inspection audits is vital to ensure the safety of all people who come in contact with buildings that are contaminated. The identification of asbestos contributes to the quick and effective removal of the material and will thus reduce the number of people suffering from the cancer mesothelioma, the incidence of which is expected to rise in Australia.