The Electrical Trades Union (ETU) is calling on retailer Bunnings to ensure public safety is paramount after revelations of workers suffering lead poisoning from a readily available product.
Members of the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union of South Australia (CEPU SA) and the South Australian Branch of the ETU, were diagnosed with lead poisoning after working to decommission the AGL Torrens Island power station.
The workers purchased rolls of lead sheeting from Bunnings to use as shock absorbent packing, which alerted the union to the potential lead exposure risk for the public at Bunnings stores.
The lead purchased was sitting on shelving, in a Bunnings aisle, with no safety precautions.
The workers at AGL Torrens Island removed more than 30 tons of high voltage lead cable without any controls in place by AGL to keep the workers safe.
As a result, workers suffered from acute lead toxicity leading to insomnia, abdominal pain, weight loss, cognitive issues with memory, headaches and chronic fatigue.
Lead levels detected at AGL Torrens Island were as high as 15,000 micrograms per 100cm2.
Lead dust testing results, provided to the CEPU SA Branch showed levels on the Bunnings shelves where the rolls and sheets of lead are available 59,000 micrograms per 100cm2 with visible dust present and 3,300 micrograms per 100cm2 on the floor.
The lead levels at Bunnings are 54,000 times higher than is recommended by the US EPA safe lead dust Standard – Australia does not currently have a safe lead dust standard.
Given the very serious and irreversible effects of lead poisoning, the ETU calls on Bunnings to take all available steps to ensure there is no lead exposure risk at their stores. The union also calls on all safety regulators nationwide to take serious action on lead exposure.
Health Impacts
Lead is a highly toxic metal and a neurotoxin. It is extremely dangerous to the human body and has particularly harmful effects on children who absorb 4 to 5 times as much lead as adults. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and can suffer profound and permanent adverse health impacts, particularly in the development of the brain and nervous system. Lead also causes long-term harm in adults, including increased risk of high blood pressure, cardiovascular problems and kidney damage.
For pregnant women, lead exposure can harm their unborn child, even if their exposure is years before falling pregnant due to lead storing in human bone for decades and slowly releasing back out during times of physical stress such as in pregnancy. This stored lead can then be passed on and damage the brains of children as well as causing a range of other complications including miscarriage, still birth, premature birth and low birth weight. There is no cure for lead poisoning and the damage it causes cannot be reversed.
Union Action
CEPU SA has been working with the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) SA/NT Branch to expose the lead levels at Bunning stores in South Australia. Nationally the SDA have raised concerns with Bunnings after conducting store visits in SA, QLD, NSW and Victoria where each Safework state safety regulator was contacted and advised of lead being sold in Bunnings stores.
Safework responses around Australia
The SDA SA/NT Branch requested a Safework SA inspector to attend a Bunnings site after being made aware of the lead dust, but the safety regulator refused to attend due to “not being an imminent risk to health and safety”.
The SDA QLD Branch then notified Safework Queensland. The Queensland safety regulator did attend a Bunnings store, conducted their own testing and as a result, issued Bunnings a direction to take it off shelves and ordered Bunnings to conduct cleaning.
