A Geelong bus depot has had a section of the site closed following asbestos being discovered on site.
CBC Victoria Chief Executive Jeff Wilson confirmed that WorkSafe Victoria inspectors had uncovered asbestos dust at the paint shop section of the site during a routine hygiene infection. The company has engaged an asbestos contractor to have the site remediated appropriately.
“The areas being cleaned have been isolated and operations are not affected,” he said in a statement dated January 30.
The asbestos company engaged by the business will also conduct regular asbestos fibre air monitoring to “ensure the safety of all staff”.
Mr Wilson explained that the most recent results, taken late last week, were negative or below the detection limit for the laboratory, which indicated that the asbestos was not airborne.
Despite the safety reassurances, one employee who spoke to The Geelong Advertiser said that the communication to the workers around the incident had been “ridiculous”. The worker said that the exclusion zone had “half a wall of plastic” as a safety measure.
“A meter that measures asbestos in the air was in our lunchroom. Now all of a sudden that’s disappeared, no reason given,” they said.
“No-one’s telling us anything. All we want is some answers.”
Mr Wilson confirmed that asbestos testing was conducted in “highly crowded areas, including lunchrooms”, and noted that all the tests returned negative results.
“CDC takes the health and safety of their staff very seriously and has safety teams and committees monitoring the business,” he said.
A WorkSafe spokesman confirmed that the regulator had visited the site and “continues to monitor the workplace to ensure occupational health and safety obligations are being met”.