RTA to investigate bridge cancer claims

Sydney Harbour Bridge maintenance workers fear lead paint used on the world-famous
structure could be behind a number of cancer cases among their number.
The union representing the workers - riggers, painters, carpenters and crane
operators - says there have been at least eight recent known cases including five
deaths.
But the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) is worried the
number could be higher.
Workers and union organisers met with NSW Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA)
management on Thursday to voice concerns about a possible cancer cluster and demand
an investigation and a review of work practices.
The RTA said it would act quickly to investigate the claims, adding that the safety
of staff was of the highest priority.
"As such, we intend to fully investigate whether there is a health risk to workers
on the Sydney Harbour Bridge," a spokesperson said in a statement.
"The RTA holds no records of staff working on the bridge having cancer, and a link
between the Sydney Harbour Bridge and cancer has never been previously raised by the
unions."
The RTA said it had a longstanding health program for bridge workers involving
six-monthly testing of blood for lead and zinc as well as annual full blood testing
and three-year lung testing.
"The safety standards and monitoring process have proven effective with bridge
workers' current blood lead levels falling well below the WorkCover guidelines," the
spokesperson said.
The structure is the widest long-span bridge in the world and its most famous former
rigger is actor Paul Hogan.
Known to locals as the Coathanger, it opened in 1932 and is the site of many
community events throughout the year, including the annual New Year's Eve fireworks
display, which is broadcast around the world.
It is maintained by 80 full-time RTA workers.
The CFMEU's NSW secretary, Mal Tulloch, said two cancer sufferers were still working
on the bridge when they contracted the disease.
"These guys love working on this iconic site and they recognise that it is a
dangerous occupation to be painting and sand-blasting 100 metres above Sydney
Harbour," Mr Tulloch said in a statement.
"But getting ill because you are inhaling lead particles is totally preventable, and
the RTA needs to show it is serious by acting on this quickly."
Cancer Council Australia said there was a risk exposure to dust from old lead paint
could trigger a range of cancers.
"Lead has been very loosely linked to lung cancer and stomach cancer, and there is
an even smaller association suggested for brain and kidney cancer and bowel cancer,"
chief executive Ian Olver told AAP.
"If a concern like this has been raised it will have to be investigated."
The types of cancer among the workers has not been revealed.
Professor Olver said concerns about cancer clusters arose from time to time but the
cause was often elusive and a number of apparently linked cases could still fall
within the statistical realm of expected cancer incidence across a broader
community.
ABC staff were moved out of the national broadcaster's Toowong studios, in
Brisbane's inner west, in late 2006 after it was discovered women who had worked
there were suffering from breast cancer at six times the national average.
To date, 18 ABC staff and former workers have been diagnosed with breast cancer but,
despite extensive soil and other testing, the cause of the cluster remains a
mystery.