Hardware chain Bunnings has responded to concerns about customers and workers being exposed to lead by changing how it handles the material when it's sold in stores. Reports to work safety authorities in at least three states have prompted the move, after potentially harmful dust was found at some sites.
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:00Lead products which have been on bunning shelves across the country and the warning labels
00:07on lead in this vision supplied to ABC News are clear.
00:11Do not breathe in dust.
00:13But it's concerns about just that which have seen the hardware chain take action.
00:17In our view, workers and customers should have never been exposed to unwrapped lead
00:22products in the first instance.
00:24South Australia's shop workers union says lead products in Adelaide were not being stored
00:28in line with safety guidelines, breaching state law and opening up customers and staff
00:34to coming into contact with the hazardous material.
00:37Other states were notified too, including Queensland, where testing was undertaken leading
00:42to products being removed from the aisles.
00:44I think having a product of this risk level just on a shelf like it's any other product
00:50is pretty surprising to the union.
00:52SA's plumbing and electrical union first flagged the potential lead problems with the SDA.
00:57It has experience with the material.
01:00Some of its members were poisoned last year while decommissioning an AGL power station
01:04in Adelaide's northwest.
01:06The health implications of lead are very serious.
01:08Lead is a neurotoxin.
01:09It doesn't belong in the human body.
01:11Since the issues were first raised, Bunnings has taken steps to manage lead in its stores,
01:17which includes wrapping the products it has for sale.
01:20Through a statement, the company said the move was made as an additional safety measure
01:24after receiving expert advice that the way the products were sold posed little risk.
01:30Cleaning has also been undertaken.
01:33In some locations, customers are currently being directed to the trade desk for products,
01:37but the SDA argues risk remains.
01:40There is an ongoing concern we have about the residual dust that is on the shelves.
01:44We haven't seen any action from SafeWork SA as the regulator to remedy that in our view.
01:49SafeWork SA says it's satisfied by the actions taken by Bunnings and the way the business
01:55is taking a uniform approach to lead across the state.