Questions key over contaminated refinery water
‘Who knew what?’ and ‘when?’ have become the key questions following the discovery of contaminated drinking water at the Port Stanvac oil refinery.
Dozens of workers possibly exposed to potentially deadly legionella are still awaiting a return to work, but the State Opposition is demanding a full safety audit of the site.
As reported by 7News on Friday, 120 workers have been sent home on full pay until further notice.
Following complaints of workers falling ill, Mobil confirmed on Friday that legionella has been found in water samples.
Today, minor alterations were evident to the water supply, which flows through the old fire hydrant system, and is then used for drinking and showering.
The entire clean-up of the site, including asbestos removal, has long concerned the construction workers’ union.
“The alarm bells are ringing and what should happen is that SafeworkSA should go in and do a full safety audit of the site,” shadow industrial relations minister Iain Evans said.
Mobil did not return calls to 7News today.
7News wants to ask when the company and its demolition contractor were first notified about probable contamination.
It has previously said February 25, but former safety officer Stephen Costello tells a different story.
“Round about the 15th of February it was raised by one of our safety reps that the drinking water smelt – I raised it at a safety meeting the following Friday,” he told 7News.
When the demolition started last August, bottled drinking water was supplied, but Mr Costello said the company decided to stop supplying the water, because of the cost.
Safework SA inspectors will visit the site tomorrow morning before any all clear is given.
