Asbestos clean-up equipment heading to Niue
Special equipment will be sent to Niue this week to clean up asbestos roofing fragments amongst the rubble of buildings
destroyed by Cyclone Heta, Foreign Minister Phil Goff said today.
Respirators, overalls and sealable bags will be included in cargo going to the island on an RNZAF Hercules flight
planned for Tuesday. The equipment will be used by a clean-up team of around 80 islanders, who will be trained on safe
procedures for collecting the smashed roofing sheets, Mr Goff said.
“New Zealand and Australian experts on the island have identified an immediate health risk to residents from the smashed
asbestos, and clean-up of affected areas has been suspended until the safety equipment arrives,” Mr Goff said.
“The experts, including two from Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) already on Niue, will train the Niuean clean-up
team how to safely collect the material into sealable bags, where it will be stored for later removal off the island and
proper disposal at an asbestos destruction facility.”
Houses built on the island in the 1960s and 1970s following earlier cyclones contained asbestos building materials. An
NZAID team had been scheduled to visit the island later this month to develop plans for removing the asbestos, much of
which is on buildings that are now unoccupied.
“Asbestos was used at a time when the health risks were not well understood,” Mr Goff said. “Cyclone Heta has added
urgency to plans that were already underway for removing the material.”