By ALAN PERROTT
Workers at an Auckland warehouse have been sent home for a day after an asbestos scare at a site next door.
The staff, at L'Oreal, became alarmed on seeing workmen in protective suits digging up a neighbouring property.
The company laid a complaint with the Manukau office of Occupational Safety and Health, after becoming worried by the amount of dust coming from the dig.
Last night, a L'Oreal spokesman said testing had shown "negligible amounts" of asbestos dust in the air-conditioning system.
The company understood that both properties sat on an old dump containing asbestos. Asbestos fibres have been linked to a range of cancers. A study published last week predicted as many as 12,000 New Zealanders, mostly builders, would die from asbestos-related cancers in the next 15 years.
The L'Oreal spokesman said the company had not been warned the excavation was to take place, on Hugo Johnston Drive, in Penrose. The company sent its staff home for the day on the advice of OSH.
While it understood any danger had passed yesterday, L'Oreal gave staff the option of staying home if they still did not feel safe enough to return to work.
OSH spokesman Justin Brownlie said it inspected the site and issued improvement and prohibition notices instructing Walsh Contractors to improve its method of removing the asbestos.
The site contained asbestos material and contaminated soil, he said.
Further inspections will be conducted to ensure the notices have been obeyed.
A spokesman for Walsh Contractors said it was aware there was asbestos on the site before digging and had engineers and consultants on hand to monitor the work.
A consultant working on the site said the material was old asbestos piping which presented very low danger levels.
Contractors were watering the site yesterday to contain any loose asbestos material and monitors had been set up to detect any airborne fibres.
Asbestos scare prompts firm to send staff home
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