Fresh food and Asbestos People

The fact there is the thick black sheeting hanging up, and a roll of it off to the side, leads me to believe its the real deal. And of course theres the bags.
None of which is available off the at say, a supermarket, so you have to know where to get it, and you wouldnt use it for just general rubbish as its not as cheap as say, something off the supermarket shelf.
Id be calling Workcover, they will have a field day with this.

Jethro said :

Waiting For Godot said :

I would suggest that these bags are being used to cover the contractors and Woolworths if any legal claims are made. Like Mr Evil (#5) I seriously doubt whether the material is asbestos. If it was there would be a full-scale HAZMAT operation in progress with full body suits and all the other paraphernalia. It reminds me of when I worked in Treasury in the 1980s. There were large paper bags with “Classified Waste” printed on them. People used to put private correspondence and other memos into the bags knowing the material would be burned and have no chance of resurfacing.

Didn’t everyone at treasury get a day off earlier this year because they thought they found asbestos??

Yep, part of the building occupied by Finance though. Plenty more accountants out there lol.

Seriously, the problem is solved: they put stickers on the skirting boards saying: Warning – Asbestos.

Given that the flooring looks like it’s in a newly refurbished store, I would think it would be extremely unlikely that the flooring would have any asbestos in it.

The contractors are probably just idiots who didn’t think before using the bags.

Kinda sucks if you’re the one in whatever number and it was preventable though doesn’t it?
I’d feel less hysterical or whatever you want to call it if there was more evidence of an intelligent approach. If it might be asbestos it should be tested. If it is, it should be removed with greater caution than the photo would seem to indicate. If it isn’t, it shouldn’t be going in those bags and cluttering up landfill reserved for hazardous materials. If someone has made the decision to use those bags to cover themselves legally just in case, without actually doing what needs to be done physically, that’s a reprehensible attitude. If someone has decided to use those bags because they happened to be handy and the implications are not understood, that’s mind-bogglingly ignorant and inconsiderate. Are our ancestors really chimps, or goldfish with a memory span that doesn’t allow for learning from past mistakes?

I have enough faith in our regulations to trust that these people know what they are doing, and if it was dangerous they would be talking extra precautions.

As for Coles Belco that was mentioned above, even though it was built in the late 70’s so more than likely had asbestos flooring, the shop has been refurbished a few times since then so one would think the asbestos flooring has long since gone. Same too with Woolworths in Belco.

The material might well contain asbestos, but if it is bound up in the structure and cannot float free, it’s not a danger. Asbestos is something that needs to be monitored and treated with respect however in almost all circumstances casual exposure to asbestos related products does not contain undue risk. If it did, the entire generation of baby boomers will be in trouble, as brake pads used to contain asbestos, and any trip to a busy shopping centre would have resulted in more exposure than anyone today will face in their lifetime.

Hysteria is a known trait of our species, when we finally ditch that carryover from our chimp type ancestry we can perhaps claim we have actually evolved.

Waiting For Godot said :

I would suggest that these bags are being used to cover the contractors and Woolworths if any legal claims are made. Like Mr Evil (#5) I seriously doubt whether the material is asbestos. If it was there would be a full-scale HAZMAT operation in progress with full body suits and all the other paraphernalia. It reminds me of when I worked in Treasury in the 1980s. There were large paper bags with “Classified Waste” printed on them. People used to put private correspondence and other memos into the bags knowing the material would be burned and have no chance of resurfacing.

Didn’t everyone at treasury get a day off earlier this year because they thought they found asbestos??

nothing gets in the way of making another all mighty dollar.

the world can’t operate without greed

I would suggest that these bags are being used to cover the contractors and Woolworths if any legal claims are made. Like Mr Evil (#5) I seriously doubt whether the material is asbestos. If it was there would be a full-scale HAZMAT operation in progress with full body suits and all the other paraphernalia. It reminds me of when I worked in Treasury in the 1980s. There were large paper bags with “Classified Waste” printed on them. People used to put private correspondence and other memos into the bags knowing the material would be burned and have no chance of resurfacing.

The Belco Coles staff told me that they had been working in these kind of conditions for months and were also worried about the asbestos in the air.

In the form it is in it would be ok unless they started cutting it with power tools or something stupid like that, it is unlikely that contractors would use those bags to dump other substances because as soon as the dumps see those bags it is not a simple matter of dumping them off the truck

I’m wondering if the contractors are just using asbestos bags for this job, even though the vinyl may not actually contain asbestos? To me, the vinyl looks far too new to contain asbestos?

Poor judgement by the contractors if that is the case.

Personally, I’d be more concerned about some of the stuff that is added to the foodstuffs inside the packets on the shelves!

Probably could have been managed better, but in reality there’s no significant risk.

Unless you’re one of those people who use anti-bacterial laundry detergent, fit HEPA filters to your air-con and are allergic to the outdoors – in which case you’re all going to die.

That’s GOTTA be illegal.

Don’t recognise it … an older shopping centre?

You see a lot of overhyped stories on here.. but this one is actually disturbing.

Care to disclose which Woolworths it is? or at least if it’s North/South?