Kingstown Barracks - Buildings

Asbestos Concerns

In inspection reports of the island undertaken in 1993, 1996 and 2002, Bruce Horgan, the Occupational Health and Welfare Officer from the Asbestos Diseases Society, identifies the Kingstown Barracks has "having seriously deteriorated asbestos cement roofing" and recommends replacement of the roofs.

 

Graham Giffard, MLC (South Metropolitan) states that "the Department of Education does not recommend or encourage the use of any particular site for school camps" and that according to department policy, it is up to the schools to evaluate the risks associated with selecting a venue and make a decision accordingly (SERIOUSLY??)

 

Furthermore, in research undertaken during the early 1990s by the Western Australian Advisory Committee on Hazardous Substances, it was contended that "exposure to asbestos cement products in schools represents a negligible risk to health"

 

(The Annual Emeritus Professor Eric G. Saint Memorial Award recognises the contribution those who make to “contribute to relieving suffering, improving workplace safety, promoting awareness, and making profound changes to regulation, law, and an asbestos safe society”. Bruce Horgan, who was still an ADSA Occupational Health and Safety Officer in 2011, was recognised for “his dedicated service to the Australian community in his voluntary capacity as Occupational Health and Safety Office with the ADSA for the past 30 years”)

​

26 November 2004 - Tourism Minister Bob Kucera issues a media release of how he told the Asbestos Diseases Society that the Government's roof replacement program, which incorporates the roofs in Kingstown Barracks, will be completely replaced with colorbond steel within a year under a $3m priority program. The original completion date had been set for 2012.