How asbestos ravaged the Latrobe Valley

For much of the 20th century, Gippsland was the nation’s powerhouse. Five major power stations were constructed around the Gippsland town of Yallourn. The State Electricity Commission employed an army of workers to build and maintain them.

But those power stations were riddled with deadly asbestos. It is estimated that 140,000 workers who built and maintained the power plants were exposed to asbestos. Many of them would be badly injured or killed by asbestos-related diseases.

Today, four of the Latrobe Valley’s power stations have been shut down, and the last is slated for closure by mid-2028.

While the power stations will eventually close for good, they’ll leave behind a poisonous legacy of asbestos and dust-related diseases across Victoria’s Latrobe Valley, affecting generations of this tight-knit and hardworking community. 

Why is there asbestos inside Gippsland’s power stations?

There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos. If someone breathes in asbestos dust even a single time, it has the potential to cause fatal cancer years later.

But in addition to being deadly, asbestos was a cheap and effective insulation material. So asbestos was used extensively across Gippsland’s power stations as thermal insulation for boilers, turbines, and steam pipes. Laggers would mix dry asbestos with water to form a paste in drums. The paste was applied to surfaces and covered in sheet metal. The lagging process released high levels of airborne dust, the deadliest form of asbestos.

Once the insulation was in place, it remained dangerous. Workers repairing and maintaining equipment had to cut into pipes or remove asbestos during ongoing works. This process would dislodge more fibres into the air.

The government and industry knew since the 1930s that exposure to significant quantities of asbestos was dangerous. But when Mick was working in the power industry, workers were given no warnings about the health risks. No effective personal protective equipment (PPE) was provided prior to or during mixing processes.

“We received a paper mask, similar to the ones we all wore during the COVID-19 pandemic,” recalls Michael ‘Mick’ Tomkins, a former sheet metal worker contracted at Yallourn’s W Station from 1972 to 1974. “Most guys took the masks off because they were just too sweaty and uncomfortable to wear. I didn’t question it, really.”

Other workers recall going home in clothes coated in white fibres, boiler rooms so thick with dust that you couldn’t see the other end of the room, or wiping away films of asbestos on their coffee cups.

Asbestos dust is so deadly that even family members could be injured or killed by the powdered fibre that was brought into their homes on the work clothes of their loved ones.

Who might be affected by asbestos at Gippsland’s power stations? 

Gippsland’s power stations have affected nearly everyone living and working in the Latrobe Valley community, touching workers and non-workers alike, including:

• All workers – including laggers, fittings, and sheet metal workers – employed directly or contracted to work at SECV’s power plants from 1920 to 1989. 
• Wives, mothers and homemakers secondarily exposed while performing laundry work.
• Children, who were exposed after playing in asbestos dumps around the power station area, including throwing snowballs of asbestos at each other.
• Any other worker, bystander or visitor who was present while asbestos was being worked with.

It’s estimated around 140,000 workers were exposed to asbestos between the 1920s and the 1980s. According to a 2003 study, Latrobe Valley workers develop mesothelioma at seven times the Victorian state average. Data from the Australian Mesothelioma Register indicates power station workers exposed 30 to 50 years ago (in Victoria and elsewhere in Australia) have the second highest risk of developing mesothelioma in their lifetime, surpassed only by those who worked in the infamous mines and mills of Wittenoom in Western Australia.

What is the impact of asbestos?

Exposure to airborne asbestos has been linked to a long list of dust-related diseases and cancers, including:

• Mesothelioma: A rare and aggressive cancer that affects the lining of the lungs, abdomen or heart. Only asbestos causes mesothelioma. It is often fatal.
• Lung cancer: A rare cancer affecting the lining of the lungs and abdomen.
• Asbestosis: A chronic lung disease that leads to scarring and inflammation.
• Laryngeal cancer: Laryngeal cancer develops in the larynx, commonly known as the “voice box.”
• Asbestos-Related Pleural Diseases (ARPDs): These are conditions affecting the lining of the lungs (pleura):
  • Pleural thickening: Scarring and thickening of the pleura, which can cause chest pain and difficulty breathing. 
  • Pleural plaques: Well-defined, thickened areas on the pleura, which are often asymptomatic but a sign of exposure. 
  • Benign Asbestos Pleural Effusion (BAPE): Fluid buildup in the chest cavity that is not cancerous. 

If you think you’ve been exposed to asbestos, you should monitor the following symptoms:

• Shortness of breath
• Persistent cough
• Chest pain or tightness
• Fatigue
• Swelling in the face, neck, fingertips or toes
• Crackling sounds when breathing

Mick’s Story: Living under a cloud of asbestos

It was 1972 and Mick was just 20 years old when he first started working as a subcontractor at W Power Station in Yallourn. As a sheet metal worker, it was his job to apply metal over pipes and turbines that had been insulated with asbestos.

Mick only learned how toxic asbestos exposure could be after news reports circulated in the 1980s. Since then, the possibility of an asbestos-related diagnosis has dogged him his whole working life. He had his lungs checked regularly after he retired in 2016.

In May 2024, Mick noticed he was unusually tired and experiencing chest pains. A series of medical tests confirmed what Mick already suspected – mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by exposure to asbestos. Mick was immediately put on a life-long course of immunotherapy, a treatment that has kept the terminal cancer at bay.

While awaiting his test results, Mick’s medical team suggested he contact Maurice Blackburn Lawyers. Once his diagnosis was confirmed, our specialist dust diseases lawyers immediately lodged a claim on his behalf.

“At my age, I thought compensation would be a long shot, but Maurice Blackburn was off and running like a greyhound on day one,” says Mick.

Mick’s claim was lodged in July and settled by December – giving Mick “an early Christmas present” as he calls it.

“The No Win, No Fee arrangement was reassuring because I could go through the process and not worry about being stuck with a lot of legal bills.”

When should you seek legal advice?

If you’ve been diagnosed with an asbestos-related condition, it’s important to speak to a specialist lawyer as soon as you can. A claim started when a person is alive can be settled even after they have died, but a new claim cannot be lodged after the person has already died.

“Older clients and clients struggling with comorbidities might assume they’re not entitled to anything, or that it might be too hard, but Mick’s story shows how important it is to investigate your legal entitlements,” says Ross Sottile, a dust diseases lawyer at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

“Asbestos-related diseases bring a lot of uncertainty, but having compensation will be important when it comes to helping Mick access care in the future. If there’s a new groundbreaking treatment, Mick will have money to pay for it.”

How can we help?

If you live in the Latrobe Valley, you can contact our local Maurice Blackburn Traralgon office.

We offer free initial consultations where we can advise you on your potential rights and entitlements to compensation. We also understand that a number of our clients are unwell and home consultations in these circumstances.

There’s no obligation to go ahead after this consult, but if you decide you want to pursue a claim then we’ll represent you on a No Win No Fee basis. We can also then take the necessary steps to protect your legal entitlements.

The compensation for asbestos-related diseases can be significant and it is important to seek advice as soon as possible due to legislative limitations. 

If you have not been diagnosed with an asbestos-related condition but have been exposed to asbestos in any occupational or domestic exposure, register your exposure with the National Dust Register.