Asbestos

Found on http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/rn/2004-05/05rn12.htm

The asbestos problem⁽⁴⁾

The Hardie Group manufactured asbestos products (cement, piping, insulation and brake linings) for over 70 years in NSW, Queensland and Western Australia.⁽⁵⁾ It is not alone in facing asbestos compensation claims.  Estimates of Australia’s total liability for future asbestos claims start around $6 billion.⁽⁶⁾ Fellow corporate heavy weights CSR and BHP Billiton are targets, and federal and state governments also have substantial asbestos liabilities.  Claims are not limited to those who worked in asbestos mines and factories.  Former power station, shipyard and dock workers, railway labourers and members of the defence force, especially the Navy, are at significant risk from asbestos-related diseases.   These diseases can take decades to develop—a major difficulty for compensation planning.   Mesothelioma (cancer of the chest cavity) can emerge 40 years after exposure.  Since 1945 about 7000 Australians have died from this disease, estimated to rise to 18 000 by 2020.  Other asbestos related cancers may be around 30—40 000 by the same time.

CSR’s asbestos disasters

The Wittenoom Tragedy

From: http://www.answers.com/topic/csr-limited?cat=biz-fin

Between 1948 and 1966, CSR operated mines at Wittenoom, Western Australia that produced 161 000 tons of crocidolite fibre.^[1] During this time, thousands of workers and their families, visitors, tourists, consultants and Government officials were exposed to lethal levels of blue asbestos almost a thousand times higher than occupationally regulated at the time. Many of them would develop fatal diseases due to this, such as mesothelioma and lung cancer.

Despite numerous warnings from the Western Australia Health Department and other health authorities, CSR continued to act in a negligent manner throughout the operation of the mines. The first court victory for the Wittenoom victims was in 1988, when Klaus Rabenault won his case against Midalco, a subsidiary of CSR that ran the mines. The judge ruled that CSR acted with ‘continuing, conscious and contumelious’ disregard for its workers’ safety and that Rabenault should be awarded $426,000 by way of compensation and $250,000 in punitive damages.^[2]

It is predicted that by 2020, almost a third of the people who passed through Wittenoom during the mines operating years would be diagnosed with a fatal disease caused by their dangerous exposures to blue asbestos. This would be an estimated 2000 cases totaling costs of $500 million (AUS) in damages from CSR.^[3]

In the 1980s CSR was pursued by victims of asbestosis caused by the operation of its Midalco subsidiary in Western Australia. By 1988, 258 damage-related suits had been taken against CSR, though only a handful of cases had been heard in the courts. In May that year a Victorian court made an award of A$680,000 against Midalco to a former worker, after he contracted the fatal lung cancer, mesothelioma; and in August, lesser amounts were awarded to other workers, against CSR itself (22). Finally in 1989 and the following year, something approaching a fair settlement was made.

Meanwhile CSR and the State Government Insurance Commission of Western Australia were engaged in a dispute as to which of them was responsible for payment of the damages to the tortured workforce and their dependents, with CSR arguing that it was not responsible for liabilities sustained by its Midalco subsidiary. The two bodies finally reached agreement in early 1989 to share the costs of compensation (23). $A15 million would be paid out by each of them to cover damages for the seven-year period of operation of the Wittenoom mine, with an additional total of $A20 million payable to claimants who worked there before 1959 (23). By the end of that year, researchers at the Queen Elizabeth II Medical centre, and the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, in Perth had estimated that a further 692 workers would fall victim to mesothelioma with another 183 cases of lung cancer to be expected. They predicted another 432 successful claims would be made, in addition to the 356 already accepted (24). ^[4]

At the beginning of 1990, 322 workers had been compensated (25). A few months later CSR made a partial re-entry into mining, when it bought up 48 quarries from the US ARC subsidiary of the British Hanson corporation. It also pulled out of a plasterboard JV with Redland Plasterboard (established in 1987) while retaining its Australian and New Zealand interests, through Monier PGH – a company with around half of the Australian roofing tile market (26).

The mining and milling of blue asbestos at Wittenoom is, as of 2004, the greatest single industrial disaster in Australia’s history.^[5]

Historical situation

From http://www.answers.com/topic/csr-limited?cat=biz-fin

In an effort to change its image from that of solely a sugar producer, CSR has been promoting its increasingly strong position in the building and construction materials industry. The company has substantial operations in quarrying, concrete, cement products, bricks and tiles, plasterboard, insulation, and timber products, as well as investments in aluminum.

…

Although CSR was known mainly as a sugar producer, the postwar program of diversification changed the corporate profile considerably. The last year of the war marked CSR’s first substantial entry into building materials and construction when the company bought an interest in Fletcher Holdings, a large construction and timber company based in New Zealand.

…

The acquisition in 1959 of the Bradford Insulation Group gave CSR a major share of the insulation products market throughout Australia.

…

In 1989 controversy concerning the company’s alleged negligence in its management of the Wittenoom asbestos mine, which it had sold in 1966, was settled. CSR paid out an estimated A$30 million in damages to more than 300 workers suffering from asbestos-related lung diseases. Australian newspapers referred to the event as “Australia’s Bhopal.”

…

Further reading: CSR: Building in Quality; Fact Book, Sydney: CSR, January 1990.

Renovation statistics

A bit outdated (the report’s from 1999) but perhaps worth looking at… http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/2f762f95845417aeca25706c00834efa/062c1f689e72a59cca2570ec000b922d!OpenDocument

A fantastic collection of useful links

http://www.icanz.org.au/resources/glossary/

Weaknesses as identified by US glass fibre producers

The Future

The fiberglass industry faces some major challenges over the rest of the 1990s and beyond. The number of producers of fiberglass insulation has increased due to American subsidiaries of foreign companies and improvements in productivity by U.S. manufacturers. This has resulted in excess capacity, which the current and perhaps future market cannot accommodate.

In addition to excess capacity, other insulation materials will compete. Rock wool has become widely used because of recent process and product improvements. Foam insulation is another alternative to fiberglass in residential walls and commercial roofs. Another competing material is cellulose, which is used in attic insulation.

Because of the low demand for insulation due to a soft housing market, consumers are demanding lower prices. This demand is also a result of the continued trend in consolidation of retailers and contractors. In response, the fiberglass insulation industry will have to continue to cut costs in two major areas: energy and environment. More efficient furnaces will have to be used that do not rely on only one source of energy.

With landfills reaching maximum capacity, fiberglass manufacturers will have to achieve nearly zero output on solid waste without increasing costs. This will require improving manufacturing processes to reduce waste (for liquid and gas waste as well) and reusing waste wherever possible.

Such waste may require reprocessing and remelting before reusing as a raw material. Several manufacturers are already addressing these issues.

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