More from the Demo Wars in Christchurch....

Following on from the blog below, one of the managers from Environment Canterbury actually served an eviction notice on Diana Stil, President of the Demolition and Asbestos Association from a 'control' centre inside the cordon where Diana was assisting with mobilising plant and machinery required by Urban Search and Rescue teams. The manager said that Diana, and therefore the association, were inhibiting the rescue effort. All of which appears over the top until a clue emerges 'We also insisted and implemented asbestos control measures after one of our members correctly identified friable asbestos on the Pine Gould Building' to as how the Demo Assoc was 'purposely delaying the body recovery and that we had NO SYSTEMS FOR HEALTH AND SAFETY WHATSOEVER' ( the emphasis, Diana's - the writer.)

First of all I'm not sure how an 'eviction' notice would apply and can only take it as a given because that is how it was reported, perhaps it applies to some law under a 'state of emergency' or a Council law or power instilled upon Environment Canterbury. But Diana's own words 'also insisted' as reported above gives some weight to the view of Environment Canterbury officials that the rescue was being delayed because of 'asbestos control measures.' Friable asbestos is material with at least 1% asbestos which is dry and able to be reduce to dust and therefore presents as a danger to human inhalation. Of course when handling such material a normal procedure is to wet it down and use particular breathing apparatus filters for those in contact with it.

Christchurch and that time wasn't 'normal procedure' mode. However no doubt rescuers were properly attired and with approved breathing apparatus because of the dust and any other contaminants. Now when somebody says 'one of our members' it actual broadens the picture from the 'logistic assistance' that the President claimed, into an operational situation. Further the words 'also insisted' show a root cause of the real issues that caused the crisis of control which sent the President packing. One can't be involved in organising logistics and elevate that to a role of 'insisting' on procedural compliance's, not in general situations and certainly not in life and death situations under declared states of emergency.

I can't help but think now that Diana, whom I still assume introduced herself into the cordon, misinterpreted her accepted offer of help on a narrow basis as merely a step toward a leading role in the recovery (and later along with her own demo company, Nikau) and the wheels came off when experienced USAR team members rejected normal protocol safety measures (which can be quite over the top) and wanted to get on with the job using their own experience and common sense. And also that it is more likely that while the Auckland Demo contractor and the one from Christchurch attending the 'remove yourself scene' with the Environment Canterbury manager, certainly had an eye on work in the future but that Environment Canterbury were acting to remove an obstructing force and bring on board contractors unconfused as to their roles as being no more that demo company owners and not demo company owners-President of Associations.