All clear given for staff to reoccupy the buildings in the vicinity of Christchurch Hospital chimney stack

Canterbury District Health Board is confident a potential problem with the Christchurch Hospital chimney stack is isolated to a small area and surrounding buildings are safe to occupy.

Engineers removed sections of the outer shell of the Christchurch Hospital chimney stack this morning (July 6, 2011) as part of their invasive inspection to determine the extent of a potential problem identified yesterday.

Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) chief executive, David Meates says as a result of today’s inspections and testing, engineers have given the ‘all clear’ for staff to reoccupy the buildings in the vicinity of the chimney stack.

“Staff will be moving back in to their offices and workshops tomorrow morning,” Mr Meates says.

“While we have a crane on site testing is continuing, however, on the basis of this morning’s results, we are confident the particular problem was isolated to a very small area.”

The chimney is attached to the hospital’s coal-fired boilers which are in use 24-hours-a- day, seven days a week. The boilers are the source of the hospital’s heating and steam production.

The CDHB has back-up systems in place but they do not have the same output as the main system.

The cordon around the chimney has been reduced. Antigua Street is now open to traffic and St Asaph Street, east of Antigua Street has been reopened.

The only area to remain closed to traffic is St Asaph Street, in the immediate vicinity of the chimney – this is because a crane is still operating in the area.

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