An urgent investigation has been launched after three Sydney council staffers, who all work in the same office, were diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
Jenny Havilah works on the sixth floor of a Liverpool City Council office on Moore Street in Liverpool and has recently been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, as have two of her coworkers.
A fourth coworker currently overseas has also begun experiencing thyroid issues.
The circumstances prompted an urgent investigation by the council to determine whether the diagnoses are part of a cancer cluster or if they are just extraordinary coincidences.
Havilah told 9News from a bed in St George Hospital she was worried about her coworkers.
”I had my thyroid and some lymph nodes removed and I’ll get the results in a week or so,” Havilah said.
“I’m worried about my colleagues not just on the sixth floor but that worked anywhere in that building.”
Liverpool Council has made the sixth floor of the building a no-go zone as it investigates.
In an audio clip obtained by 9News, the council’s acting CEO Jason Breton can be heard informing staff of the situation and said all three women were in different stages of illness but were “well and working”.
“Yes, we’ll get some media about this – we’ll deal with that, we have a bit of a strategy for that,” Breton can be heard saying in the recording.
Havilah says she is “far from well and working”.
United Services Union representative Daniel Papps said the workers’ wellbeing should be at the forefront of the council’s mind.
“People’s lives are at risk and we should always keep them at the forefront of the response,” he said.
The council refused an interview with 9News, but issued a statement saying they “have been informed it is unlikely there is a causal connection between our workplace and the cancer diagnosis”.
A collective cause for the cancer diagnoses has not yet been found.
