Last of asbestos roof fragments safely gone

Contractors clean up the final traces of shattered roofing containing asbestos in Plunket St...
Contractors clean up the final traces of shattered roofing containing asbestos in Plunket St yesterday. Photo by Stephen Jaquiery.

Forbury Park Trotting Club hopes to have an asbestos roof inspected before a planned meet next month.

Plunket St, in St Kilda, remained closed until late yesterday morning after roofing containing asbestos was blown off an adjacent sawdust shed at the club and shattered on the road in wild winds on Wednesday night.

Contractors worked late into the night on Thursday and were back again yesterday morning cleaning up the last traces of the debris.

"The inspector came this morning and in terms of the debris there were one or two little granules left and Salmac Insulation remedied that,'' Forbury Park Trotting Club general manager Rodney Moore said yesterday.

"They did one final sweep and it got a clearance and the street was open again late morning.''

The roofing was lifted off in the winds which buffeted Otago on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

At times, gusts reached more than 130kmh.

The club had a race meeting on August 11 and hoped to have the remainder of the roof inspected by then, Mr Moore said.

The footpaths and a "wide part'' of Plunket St were cleaned by the specialist contractors, he said.

The club had tried to communicate what had occurred to residents of the street, but Mr Moore would be "the first to admit'' the area of the street closed was larger than expected and not all residents had been fully informed.

As a result, he had written letters to the street's residents thanking them for their patience and assuring them the club was taking precautions with the roof.

WorkSafe was notified about the incident.

A WorkSafe spokeswoman confirmed it had been in contact with Salmac Insulation about the removal.

"The company assured WorkSafe that appropriate steps - in line with the regulations - had been taken to remove the materials from the road,'' the spokeswoman said.

"Following a clearance inspection of the area, an independent certified party signed off the clean-up and the road has been reopened.''

Otago Regional Council environmental monitoring and operations director Scott MacLean said the council had also ensured the safe and legal disposal of the waste.

"ORC will continue to monitor the disposal of the material, working in conjunction with the Dunedin City Council,'' he said.

timothy.brown@odt.co.nz

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