Malta Industrial Parks insist asbestos factory was properly secured

A derelict factory contaminated with asbestos that was used as the set for a Winter Moods music video was properly secured at the time of filming, according to the factory’s owners.

“The factory was properly locked, all gates were padlocked and one gate was even welded,” said Joshua Zammit, CEO of the Malta Industrial Parks, a subsidiary of Malta Enterprise. “In addition, concrete bollards were placed around the factory to prevent vehicles from entering the site and ‘No Entry’ signs were present around the site.”

The music video for ‘Everlasting’ was shot early last summer and produced by MaltaFilm.

MaltaFilm executive producer Joshua Cassar-Gaspar told MaltaToday that the factory was “abandoned and easily accessible to all, with no apertures and completely exposed to the element.”

“We were not aware that there were asbestos in the building,” Cassar-Gaspar said. “There were no warning signs and other people were walking through it while we were filming.”

Moreover, Cassar-Gaspar and the music video’s director James Vernon both claimed to have been unaware that the building was the property of the MIP.

“We didn’t break any doors to get inside and we did not see any warning signs on the abandoned and exposed building,” Vernon said. “In fact, the police arrived during the Winter Moods shoot to see what we were doing. We explained that we were taking some shots for a music video and they gave us the go-ahead to continue.”

Zammit said that the MIP has already written to both Cassar-Gaspar and Vernon and is holding them collectively and personally responsible for any harm or damage caused to anyone involved in the filming.

‘MaltaFilm were trespassing’

“The action by MaltaFilm as represented by Joshua Cassar-Gaspar and James Vernon is illegal and there is no excuse that justifies trespassing on private property,” Zammit said.

Journalists from MaltaToday visited the derelict factory on Monday and found that the site had been completely cleared and that all asbestos had been packed and sealed in white sacks. However, they could not confirm whether the site was cleared by professional workers or whether the workers had taken all health and safety precautions during the clean-up operation.

As a reaction, the MIP pointed out that a tender for the removal of the asbestos had been awarded in October to Pt Matic, a subsidiary branch of security system company Alberta, and that the contractor mobilized later on that same month.

“The professional company has the necessary set-up to handle such work,” Joshua Zammit said, while denying that the MIP had only taken action in light of reports in the media.

“We are expecting that final testing and certification works will start in the coming days and that we will have final certification showing that all the asbestos-containing material has been properly disposed of by the end of January 2015,” Zammit said. “It should be noted that this issue had been dragging since 2008 and it is only this Board of Directors that took decisive action to address this situation.”

In 2008, the roof of the former factory that had once housed Dowty O Rings collapsed, littering the ground with planks of asbestos. The MIP’s former deputy chairman, Christopher Paris, explained that the MIP had released a tender for the removal of the asbestos. However, the tender process was halted in 2010 after Alberta protested that the winning bidder did not have the necessary insurance policies to cover the removal of the asbestos. An internal inquiry was launched, a technical error was discovered, and the tender process was cancelled.

The asbestos mineral was commonly used in the manufacturing industry for its resilience to damage by heat, electricity and chemicals. In the 1970s, it was discovered to be highly carcinogenic and was widely banned.

Breathing in asbestos fibres can lead to asbestosis, a scarring of the lung tissue or even lung cancer. If the asbestos fibres are only weakly bound into the product or material, because of the fragility or condition of the product/material, then that increases the risk of fibres being released.