Tunnel staff not at risk from waste, says council

Dublin City Council has rejected claims that workers on its €625 million Dublin Port Tunnel project are being put at risk by the excavation of medical waste.

It said all such waste was being handled under tight "quarantine" controls before being exported for specialist disposal in Belgium, in line with safety regulations set down by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Health and Safety Authority (HSA).

Dublin city engineer Mr Michael Phillips said it was "a total untruth" to claim that the project team had been unaware of the waste until it was dug up. "In the Environmental Impact Statement for the tunnel it was identified that this waste did exist, and when we came across it, as predicted, we have followed the rules."

But SIPTU's construction branch secretary, Mr Eric Fleming, said he was "very concerned" about reports of contamination. Some of his members had complained about "strange health symptoms" 18 months ago, including irritations and colds, which they feared were connected to the waste.

He said the union had already been concerned about health and safety standards at the site, and had called for a meeting with the project team only last week. A number of employees held a protest on Monday morning on the issue but have since returned to work.

Mr Fintan Cassidy, secretary of the Marino Development Action Group, also expressed concern about an independent report by chemical analysts, claiming the soil contained dangerously high levels of lead, copper, zinc, mercury and arsenic. Calling for an immediate stop to the project, he said the HSA and EPA should be called in to investigate the risk both to workers and residents.

"We're particularly alarmed that the project engineers intend backfilling the contaminated and untreated soil into Fairview Park once the tunnel works there are completed."

But Mr Phillips said the only waste which would be redeposited - during the cut-and-cover works - was municipal waste, which posed no danger to the public. This had been separated at the site from the medical waste and where there was a mixture of the two "we take the safest route and excavate the soil for export".

The site had been home to a landfill dump, which closed about 30 years ago, and was reclaimed for development as Fairview Park.

Mr Phillips rejected any suggestion that safety standards were lax. "The site is very large and that means incidents and accidents do happen. There is no place for complacency but the HSA people continually visit to ensure the highest safety standards are followed."