Photo: RNZ / Nate McKinnon
Christchurch Hospital staff who have been left with life-long health effects after being exposed to toxic fumes at work have been let down by their employer, their union said.
A total of 121 hospital workers complained of symptoms including headaches, rashes and breathing problems, with one person admitted to intensive care as a result of a leak last year.
An internal Health New Zealand memo seen by RNZ said the cause was most likely a harmful chemical from painting at a nearby hospital tower block that was circulated through the air conditioning.
In the memo sent to radiology staff, Health NZ Te Waipounamu deputy chief executive Martin Keogh said 61 workers were assessed by an independent occupational physician and found to have symptoms of exposure to isocyanate-containing paint fumes.
These ranged from minor skin irritations to severe reactions such as anaphylaxis.
"[Seven are likely] to now have a lifetime hypersensitive risk to intumescent paint product exposures and may require redeployment while the remaining 4 months of painting works are completed," Keogh said.
The Health NZ memo said toxic fumes leaked from one air handler that circulated air from the podium to the ground floor main radiology department.
It said 43 staff had submitted ACC claims, three pregnant women had to have additional precautionary ultrasound scans and eight staff required a respiratory specialist assessment.
No patients were affected.
Construction resumed at the hospital tower block in mid-April after a six-month pause, with Health NZ assuring the paint had been replaced with an alternate product and controls were in place to ensure the environment was safe.
In a statement Keogh said the agency was continuing to offer support and advice to staff.
"To ensure there are no further health repercussions to affected staff, we have taken a conservative approach to where they work while painting is completed, offering them redeployment elsewhere in the hospital for the next four months.
"Those who have been redeployed are working in the same roles, and their redeployment has been managed in a way that has not impacted patient care in the hospital," he said.
Keogh said construction at the hospital was paused from September last year while the fumes leak was investigated.
He said the estimated completion date of the hospital tower block had been delayed by approximately six months.
APEX union national secretary Dr Deborah Powell said the staff should have been safe at work.
"We now have seven people who are permanently affected by this who shouldn't have been, who turned up to work to do a good job and their employer let them down and now they're the ones suffering the consequences of this. That is not okay," she said.
"Isocyanate is a nasty chemical… one of the biggest problems is hypersensitivity so if they come in contact with this going forward they will react to it and that can include anaphylaxis, so that's when your heart starts racing, your breathing shuts down, worst case scenario you stop breathing, it's a fairy serious thing to live with for the rest of your life.
"They won't necessarily know when they're being exposed, they could go into a building where isocyanate is in the air and, hey presto, they'll be triggered."
Powell said she was aware that three of the seven staff, who were sonographers and APEX members, had been redeployed at sites away from the main radiology department.
She said Christchurch Hospital's management took too long to act on the fumes leak last year.
"These workers were suffering from headaches, dizziness, skin reactions, they were complaining about it, and it wasn't until one of them rang us and said 'no one is listening to us and we're getting sick from this' and we rang health and safety at [the] national office that something got done. National office acted quickly, they shut the building site down," she said.
"I want a massive change in attitude towards [the] health and safety of workers in Waitaha from the management. I don't want to see another worker in ICU as a result of a failure of Canterbury management to keep that workplace safe."
RNZ first reported in October that about 30 staff had become unwell after breathing in toxic fumes. Health NZ said all construction work was paused at the Christchurch Hospital campus while it investigated.
Findings from an independent investigation into the fumes leak were revealed in the memo, including that staff did not always know who a decision-maker or governing authority was at given times or in given situations.
Earlier this month, Health NZ told RNZ that action taken at the hospital after the investigation included moving the affected air handling system vent 60m from its original position and installing carbon filters to air handling vents.
Chemical monitoring equipment had also been installed within the air handling system to enable the early detection of at-risk chemicals, which would automatically shut it down before the chemicals or fumes reached staff or patient areas.
"I want to sincerely apologise to staff who have been harmed as a result of these incidents. I also want to thank our staff for their understanding, patience and support as we have navigated this complex issue. Our health monitoring programme will be ongoing while our staff need it," Keogh said.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
