You could be sitting in your loungeroom oblivious to the deadly threat lying above you and your family.
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A Wagga building inspector has revealed potentially thousands of homes in the region could be contaminated with loose-fill asbestos.
It comes as NSW Department of Fair Trading’s window to register for free sample testing closes on Monday, and building inspector Brad Wilson has urged residents to register for testing.
Mr Wilson has worked in the building industry his entire life and as an inspector for the past 20 years.
During this time he has inspected thousands of properties and estimates up to four thousand of the homes he has inspected over the years could be affected.
He said all homes built before 1980 should be tested, and the time to register should be extended to make sure families have time to get their homes checked.
“I saw the pictures (of asbestos insulation) and it scared me because I’ve seen a lot of insulation like that,” Mr Wilson said.
While homeowners are offered some financial support through the government program, Mr Wilson believes there should also be programs in place for tradespeople who would have worked on these homes in the past.
“Tradies are crawling around in the stuff (insulation),” he said. “In the past we didn’t have all the safety gear we do now.”
Holbrook resident Emily Garlick remembered her reaction to the phone call confirming her Holbrook home had loose-fill asbestos.
“Devastated, absolutely devastated,” Ms Garlick said.
“I had a conversation with my case manager and I said, ‘OK, what happens now?’ and she said, ‘It gets demolished’.
“I was in shock for five or 10 minutes and then I was just sad, I just cried.”
Born in Holbrook, Ms Garlick returned to the town and bought her house four years ago.
But now her home is one of 21 in Holbrook so far found to contain loose-fill asbestos.
The affected residents are considering their options under the voluntary purchase and demolition program – sell the property to the government, retain the land and rebuild or do nothing and have the property listed on a public register, which could influence future sales.
Loose-fill asbestos taskforce head Joe D’Ermilio said previous attempts to remove the dangerous material, such as vacuuming out, had not proven fully effective.
“The only enduring solution, unfortunately, is the demolition of a property,” Mr D’Ermilio said.
A NSW Fair Trading spokesman said there had only been one property in the Wagga local government area that recorded positive to loose-fill asbestos out of 698 tested – 3338 properties have been registered to be tested.
If your home was built before 1980, you need to register for testing before August 1 at loosefillasbestos.nsw.gov.au.