What would you say of the work practices in James Hardies plants?
The poor bloke at the head of the asbestos sheeting line I worked on emptied bags of asbestos into the hopper by hand, with no mask on. There was a dust alarm in the building, but it was switched off because otherwise it would go off all the time, and we were not issued with protective clothing, except for the leather gloves so the fibre wouldn’t stick in your finger. We had khaki overalls but when we finished our shift, we were covered from head to toe in white dust. And there used to be an airhose provided so you can blow the dust off your clothes. Do you remember that? At the end of the shift, we’d blow our noses to get out clumps of white dust. We probably took the dust home to our families. I hate to think about it but my eldest daughter was a new-born baby then. And to think they knew the danger and did nothing about it. And even today they don’t warn people that their manufactured product is dangerous. So where are we today with NSW special commission into James Hardie? We are s
