Sawmiller fights 11 years for compensation

By NICOLA BOYES

A former sawmill worker with nasal cancer is still fighting ACC for compensation, 11 years after an expert panel said his disease was caused by chemical exposure at work.

The man's battle has been highlighted as the Government announces another study into the health of former timber workers.

The $520,000 project headed by Massey University's Professor Neil Pearce and administered by the Health Research Council, will survey health problems from a random sample of former workers.

It will include taking blood samples to test for chemical exposure.

Bob Dargaville, a sawmill worker for 28 years, handled dangerous chemicals nearly every day.

They made him dizzy, he suffered nose bleeds and he coughed blood.

In 1992, doctors diagnosed nasal cancer.

A year later, an Occupational Safety and Health chemical panel said Mr Dargaville's cancer was caused by exposure to chemicals at work. But the 63-year-old is still fighting ACC for compensation.

He is on an invalid's benefit. The tumour that grew behind his nose and spread to the lymph nodes in his throat has been treated and he is in remission.

Mr Dargaville has applied three times for ACC cover, but even with the minutes from the 1993 meeting of the panel and a letter saying his cancer was a result of exposure to chromate copper arsenate - a wood preservative - in his workplace, he was turned down.

The panel, which reviews all notifiable occupational diseases involving chemicals and toxins, is headed by occupational medical practitioner Dr Andrew Macfie, National Poisons Centre toxicologist Michael Beasley, and OSH senior medical officer Professor Bill Glass.

In its latest decision, ACC says the chemical panel gave no reasoned argument linking cause and effect and no validation from medical literature.

"They are quoting information from 10 years ago which says there is no recognised causative association," Mr Dargaville says. "There is a lot more information now."

Kopper Arch, a manufacturer of the chemical wood preservative CCA, to which Mr Dargaville was exposed, says in safety data sheets on a website that repeated inhalation of dust from the product may cause nasal and other respiratory cancers.

Mr Dargaville is not alone in his fight for recognition that his cancer came from his work.

He is a member of Sawmill Workers Against Poisons, a group of men who believe the chemicals they handled are killing them.

They all have ailments. Kere Akuhata, 46, who worked in a Whakatane mill for 13 years, has a fused spine; Michael Puketapu, who worked at a Waipa sawmill, had a "rotten kidney" removed; Tom Savage, who worked at a Tasman mill, has ulcers.

Mr Dargaville worked at Kinleith and later at Pukepine, in Te Puke.

He estimates he would have handled up to 48 chemicals used to treat wood.

"I used to come home white with the dust from the timber."

While at Kinleith he was exposed to CCA as well as other chemicals while working on the company's treatment cells.

His lawyer, John Miller, said Mr Dargaville still had a good case. They would look at appealing against the decision again.