November 29th, 2004

It has been revealed that around fifty Orange County Council workers are in fear for their health, having been told that they have unknowingly been exposed to asbestos fibres in the course of their work.

The naturally occurring asbestos fibres were contained in the gravel with which the employees were working. All parties concerned have now been informed that they will need to go for chest x-rays and lung function tests, leaving them all feeling very worried and extremely shocked.

The United Services Union has stated that it will be at least five years before any signs of related disease can be identified. Tom Hanley, Union Delegate, stated: "If you've ever known anyone that got a needle stick from a syringe, it takes six weeks to get a result back from that and for that six weeks those people don't go through a very good time."

The employer of the workers concerned, Orange City Council, stated that the Department of Primary Industries has confirmed that this type of exposure to naturally occurring asbestos fibers is very rare. The council stated that it had no way of knowing that the gravel contained naturally occurring asbestos.