A parliamentary question regarding the Department of Housing's response to a complaint about a damaged asbestos fence in Maddington. The response details the timeline of actions taken and the prioritization process for asbestos-related maintenance.

AnsweredQoN 1098Legislative Council
Asked
14 October 2014
Portfolio
Housing

QuestionView source ↗

DEPARTMENT
OF HOUSING — ASBESTOS MANAGEMENT POLICY
1098. Hon SAMANTHA ROWE to
the minister representing the Minister for Housing:
I refer to a phone call received by my office from a resident
of Maddington alleging that the Department of Housing was slow to act upon a
request to repair the asbestos fence separating her property from East Maddington
Primary School that had been severely damaged by a falling branch.
(1) When was the complaint about the fence first received by
the Department of Housing?
(2) Was the complaint acted upon immediately; and, if not,
why not?
(3) When was the broken asbestos removed from the property
and repairs carried out?
(4) In the
case of exposed or damaged asbestos, how does the department prioritise such
maintenance requests?

AnswerView source ↗

I thank the honourable member for some notice of this
question. The Minister for Housing advises —
(1) The
Department of Housing received a maintenance request on 11 August 2014 to
repair damaged panels of an asbestos fence at 9 Clovertree Street, Maddington.
(2) No. The
department initiated action to resolve the complaint on 27 August 2014;
however, it was unable to secure the services of a fencing contractor until 30
September 2014. The department contacted three contractors prior to the fourth
contractor completing the work.
(3) On 2
October 2014, a contractor repaired the damaged fence and removed the broken
asbestos from the property. A sheet of asbestos concealed by overgrown grass
was inadvertently not taken away for disposal. On 9 October 2014, the sheet of
asbestos was removed.
(4) The department uses an asbestos risk assessment matrix to
prioritise maintenance requests.

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