In short:
Bunnings is changing its packaging and storage of lead products after concerns were raised about customers and workers being exposed to the material.
Work safety authorities in at least three states have been liaising with unions and Bunnings, which subsequently led to the products being removed.
What’s next?
Bunnings is wrapping all existing and future stock nationally, a process that’s expected to be completed in coming weeks.
Concerns about customers and workers being exposed to lead have forced hardware chain Bunnings to change to how it handles and packages products containing the material in its stores across the country.
Officials from the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees’ Association (SDA) in at least three states have inspected sites and contacted work safety authorities, with vision and photos supplied to the ABC showing potentially hazardous dust gathering on shelving.
Bunnings told the ABC it received “expert advice” the way the product was sold poses “little risk” but it is updating packing and labelling as “an additional safety measure”.
In a report to SafeWork SA, the SDA alleges the state’s work health and safety laws were being broken, with lead sheets stored “without an appropriate container” or safe handling equipment.
The report also alleges because the lead products were not being kept correctly, they had rubbed together forming dust on the shelving.
SDA South Australia assistant secretary Jordan Mumford said unions in other states were notified about the potential issue, including in Queensland, where Workplace Health and Safety Queensland undertook in-store testing last month.
Lead products were then removed from aisles from that state and then across the nation.
“In our view, workers and customers should never have been exposed to unwrapped products in the first instance,” he said.
SA’s Communications, Electrical, Energy and Plumbing Union (CEPU) first flagged the potential lead problems at Bunnings with the SDA.
A number of CEPU members were poisoned in 2023 while decommissioning a power station in Adelaide’s north-west.
They had also previously purchased lead products from Bunnings.
CEPU SA organiser Max Mawby said the health implications from lead exposure were “very serious”.
“We had massive concerns that it being sold in Bunnings, and the lead dust on the shelves in Bunnings, was harming people and children,” he said.
World Health Organisation describes lead as one of 10 chemicals of “major public health concern” requiring action by member states – including Australia – and that there is no level of lead exposure that is known to be without harmful effects.
‘Nothing more important’ than safety: Bunnings
Bunnings has reviewed how it stores, packs and labels lead roofing products, with changes being progressively rolled out across the country and expected to be finished in coming weeks.
Bunnings director of merchandise, Cam Rist, said there was “nothing more important” than worker and customer safety.
“While we’ve received expert advice that confirms the way the product was sold poses little risk, we have worked with our supplier to update the packaging and labelling as an additional safety measure,” he said.
In vision provided to ABC News, lead can now only be purchased through a trade sales desk at some locations.
Bunnings has liaised with work safety authorities in New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia about the changes it has made and says no formal notices have been issued against the company.
Areas of stores where the products were kept have been cleaned with specialist vacuuming equipment, wipes and appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE).
In a statement, WHSQ said follow-up inspections showed the products were “no longer on shelves”.
“WHSQ is satisfied that the measures that have been taken are appropriate at this time,” a spokesperson said.
A SafeWork SA spokesperson said products “only pose” a risk of lead contamination if they were handled unprotected.
“This can be avoided by appropriate packaging and the wearing of gloves,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Mumford has raised questions about how SafeWork SA responded to the issues with lead that were raised.
“It is extremely concerning to us that the Queensland regulator took this issue, in our view, much more seriously,” he said.
“In our view the regulator here [in South Australia] was incredibly slow in their response, we aren’t satisfied in the totality of the response.”
SafeWork SA did not directly respond to questioning from ABC News about if it had conducted any testing for elevated lead levels in Bunnings stores.
A spokesperson said the organisation was bound by confidentiality provisions within the Work Health and Safety Act and was unable to provide further details “at this time”.
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