A Canterbury woman in her 80s was left with a $50,000 clean-up bill after a worker for a former Carpet Court franchise uplifted vinyl containing asbestos, contaminating the house.
Son-in-law Stewart McCullough was concerned about the information Carpet Court Canterbury provided to WorkSafe about the incident in July 2020, and believed it “just gave an 87-year-old woman the middle finger” by not reimbursing her for damage their worker had caused.
The Christchurch franchisee at the time, Fitzgibbons Floor Coverings Ltd, had changed its name to Fitzgibbons Trading Ltd and was no longer a Carpet Court franchisee, a Carpet Court Franchising Ltd spokesperson said.
Fitzgibbons Trading, director Laura-Jean Fitzweijers could not be reached for comment.
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“Carpet Court takes health and safety seriously, and expects franchisees to comply with all Health and Safety legislation and any directions from WorkSafe,” the Carpet Court Franchising spokesperson said.
“In this instance Carpet Court Franchising understands that there was a WorkSafe investigation into the work done by Fitzgibbons Trading Limited at [the] premises in July 2020 and that this resulted in no action and no findings by WorkSafe.”
McCulloughs and his wife, Linda McCullough, approached the Carpet Court franchise to replace some vinyl at the house in Amberley, north of Christchurch, owned by Linda McCullough mother. Linda McCullough said she and her mother, who she did not want named because of her ill-health, stayed at a hotel overnight while the work.
“While we were there we get this phone call, saying they had found asbestos in the house,” she said.
The asbestos came from an older layer of vinyl which lay under another two layers of flooring – ceramic tiles and on top of that a laminate.
Stewart McCullough claimed the franchise was responsible for the contamination because its worker continued uplifting the vinyl layer after they should have realised it was likely to contain asbestos.
He said Fitzgibbons had been told there were three layers of flooring, and should have tested for asbestos at the beginning.
Fitzgibbons Floor Coverings told WorkSafe that the layer of asbestos-backed vinyl could not be seen during a visual inspection by the measurer who quoted the job, and work stopped as soon as the installer was able to clearly identify the vinyl as a risk of asbestos.
“Unfortunately by then, due to the disturbance of the asbestos vinyl from the lifting, asbestos particles spread and contaminated certain areas of the house as per Report from CEC [Cave Environmental Consultants],” a representative told WorkSafe in a report released to McCullough under the Official Information Act.
By that stage, several square metres of vinyl had been ripped up, McCullough said.
The company had said in an earlier response to WorkSafe that there were three layers of flooring. “Work carried out as detailed from site visit, photographs taken at time of assessment were to lift laminate installed over ceramics installed over vinyl.”
”They sent false information about how they knew nothing about the vinyl that was under there,” he said.
Insurance company AMI investigated and said faulty workmanship caused the damage, including asbestos contamination to the walls, carpet, furniture and appliances, but it was not covered by the woman’s policy.
“Like Linda says, her mum lost her home, she was $50,000 out of pocket, she ended up having to go and take another mortgage out to fix the home and at [85] years old that’s pretty daunting in itself,” McCullough said.
“We’ve taken legal action against them, which has cost an arm and a leg, and at the moment we’re considering whether we carry on because we can’t afford to.”
They were seeking reimbursement from Fitzgibbons Trading for the cost to clean up and replace contaminated items.
In April 2022, lawyers for Fitzgibbons Trading said there were no legal grounds to hold the company liable, citing the WorkSafe investigation which closed without finding any omission or negligence on the employees’ part.
“In addition, to establish our client’s negligence, it must be demonstrated that our client failed to exercise reasonable care. However, our client could not have known and foreseen that there was vinyl installed under ceramic tiles over which laminate flooring had been installed (meaning that there were three layers of different types of floor covering installed over the asbestos floor),” Kannangara Thomson Law partner John Yoon said in the letter.
That was not industry practice, and “our client is confident that the work was not carried out by a professional flooring installer but rather a DIY homeowner with a clear intent to conceal asbestos underneath and to hide it from detection.
“If the work was not carried out by your client, then the proper recourse should be against the previous owner of the property, not our client.”
The Carpet Court Franchising spokesperson said it understood there had been legal correspondence between the woman and Fitzgibbons Trading about a compensation claim.
“Carpet Court Franchising is not able to comment on this, and you should direct inquiries regarding this to Fitzgibbons Trading Limited.”
The house has since been sold.
