The man at the centre of a Whangarei asbestos clean-up scare has declined to say why he never told subcontractors about the hazardous material they were handling.
Contractor Simon Kawhio said Roofing Northland boss Aaron Card had last year asked him to quote for waterblasting a roof on the Okara Shopping
Centre carpark that was found to contain asbestos cement. Mr Kawhio had turned down the job because he didn't want to deal with asbestos and his wife, Rangi, had later phoned Jillian Cutforth, wife of Whangarei Mayor Morris Cutforth, to tell her of concerns about asbestos hazards.
As a result of mayoral intervention, police and fire officials were alerted, the Countdown supermarket manager was told his staff and customers were in danger and the Department of Labour had shut down the waterblasting.
The department's Whangarei service manager, Rod Gibbon, said the contractors had not been following proper guidelines and staff were not properly trained to do the work.
"We've issued written warnings to the owner of the contracting company and other parties, including the building owner, for failing to notify the department that this hazardous work was being done.
"We're continuing to work with all involved to improve their health and safety management systems."
The waterblasting was being done by Karabiner Cleaners on October 12, 2010. Co-owner Deborah Fabian said her operation had subcontracted the job for Roofing Northland.
Karabiner Cleaners had not known asbestos was in the roof when it quoted for the job, she said.
"We don't do hazardous-substance work so we wouldn't have taken this job on if we had known.
"The department agreed with us that we weren't to blame for that aspect," Ms Fabian said.
Labour Department communications adviser Eric Janse van Rensburg said the department had known the subcontractor had not been told about the asbestos before taking the job.
But when Mr Card was contacted he said he had nothing to say either about the asbestos or the claim that he had subcontracted the job without revealing it involved cleaning away hazardous material.
- Labour Department enforcement tools range from written warnings to infringement notices, prohibition notices, revoking certificates of competence and prosecution.
