From the early days of settlement in this country one of the most usual building materials was an asbestos cement sheet produced by buildings material manufacturer James Hardie. It was not unusual for asbestos in one of its many forms to be represented in most sections of the typical Australian house.
It usually formed the thick slab floor of bathrooms and laundries. It was a very common roofing material - and as a wall cladding for both the exterior and interior walls of a home whole suburbs were defined as " fibro " in the lexicon of the day.
Unfortunately, asbestos had a hidden danger. When cut or sawed the tiny fibres accumulated in the human lungs and often took over twenty years to make their presence felt. That deadly disease was called Mesothelioma and it delivered a lingering and painful death to its victims. Asbestos was phased out of building materials in the 1980's and from December 2003 it became illegal to be used to manufacture, use or reuse in this country. All building materials now sold are completely asbestos free.
James Hardie moved its Australian headquarters overseas but was forced to provide a fund to compensate victims and even today new cases of Mesothelioma are continuing to appear. As sheets of old fibro age the tiny fibres break free and float in the air. Renovating any home built before the 1980's is almost certain to involve asbestos removal. By law, this removal must be carried out by specialist teams with the protective devices to avoid contact with those deadly fibres.
This week the NSW Dust Diseases Tribunal delivered a ruling that will hearten victims of Mesothelioma. It ordered the James Hardie compensation fund to pay about $152,000 to an 84 year old man to allow him to live his remaining life in a serviced apartment overlooking Cronulla beach.
The fund had claimed that it was only responsible to pay for the cheaper option, which was to force that man into a nursing home.
It is expected that this ruling will serve as a precedent and the judge hearing the case agreed that the quality of life in a serviced apartment would be " far superior ". Unfortunately, it seems that new cases of Mesothelioma will continue to appear almost indefinitely into the future. There is still an incredible amount of asbestos material in old housing stock and as this ages those fibres will be freed by a mix of storm activity and the fierce Australian sun eroding the grip of the cement in the sheeting.
The biggest problem now seems to be recognition of just where this asbestos lays in wait to claim new victims. It is often hidden away behind many coats of paint and even drilling a hole to install a new doorbell can free fibres that can be inhaled.
We will not be free of asbestos in Australia until the last home containing the product is demolished and that is unlikely to happen before this century comes to an end.
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