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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 10 Hansard (12 October) . . Page.. 2926 ..
MR SMYTH (continuing):
what that material was. It looked like floc. Admittedly there was extra material in it that normally was not received, but you cannot look at something and say, "That has high levels of lead contamination". Testing needed to be done.
If I can actually read the relevant section, it says in regard to floc:
R.B. -
Ray Brewer, the site supervisor -
stated that Belconnen staff were concerned about the "floc" being a health issue as it is contaminated with wire and dust. There was even a report a while back about a vehicle and occupant being covered with the floc...
Who polices the floc, is it acceptable in a dry form or should it be moist and often delivery times are early morning when there is only one staff member on duty.
J.C. -
John Clyde of the CFMEU, the OH&S officer -
will arrange for samples of the floc to be tested.
So much for Ms Tucker's allegation that concerns were not being listened to. It was raised in a formal meeting, a minuted meeting, where these issues were put on the table and action was taken, action that everybody at that meeting agreed to.
I understand that there were no concerns raised at previous OH&S site meetings in regard to the earlier deliveries of this material. So, when the issues were raised, action was taken. We do not know whether there is a problem. People have asked that we look at it and see whether there are things to be concerned about and we have gone and done some testing. It was also agreed that no action would be taken until the results were known.
On 21 September the preliminary results were received by the OH&S union representative. Those early results indicated that the floc material had high lead levels, ranging between 8,200 milligrams per kilogram and 13,400 milligrams per kilogram. A copy of those results was provided to ACT WorkCover, the body charged with OH&S issues in the ACT, which went to the site and confirmed that the floc should not be touched.
Mr Moore: A decision already made.
MR SMYTH
: A decision made, already in isolation, that it should not be touched, confirmed by WorkCover, the people responsible. As soon as ACT Waste was advised of the possibility of the contamination, deliveries were stopped from Metalcorp pending further testing of the floc and four truckloads were turned away from the Belconnen landfill. The sample results were then provided to the Environment Management
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