Buildings cleared of PCH-linked asbestos risk

An inspection on 13 local building projects that sourced materials from the Chinese supplier of roof panels for the Perth Children’s Hospital, which were later found to contain asbestos, has produced no trace of the deadly material.

The Building Commission today confirmed that testing found no asbestos in the building products and materials supplied by Yuanda in its inspection of 13 buildings in Western Australia.

The inspection was announced a year ago following the discovery of asbestos in products supplied and installed by Yuanda in two building projects, one of which was the roof panels at the trouble-plagued Perth Children’s Hospital.

The other was an office building in Brisbane.

In its report, the Building Commission found that the type of roof panel supplied for PCH was specifically designed for the project.

“Similar panels to the asbestos-containing ones installed in PCH were not supplied for any of the 13 other WA buildings identified as containing Yuanda-supplied building products and materials,” Building Commission acting executive director Ian Munns said.

“A list of products and materials considered to be at possible risk of containing asbestos were sampled and tested for each of the 13 WA buildings in the general inspection.”

PCH is not expected to open this year, with the state government set to replace multiple valves in the facility that were recently found to have been the source of elevated lead levels in the drinking water.

More information about asbestos and mesothelioma here.