NSW insurer and care provider icare will bring its Mobile Lung Bus to Coffs Harbour, South West Rocks, and Ulladulla in August to offer specialised lung-health assessments to current and retired workers who are at risk of developing a workplace dust disease, such as mesothelioma, asbestosis, or silicosis.
Target workers are those who were possibly exposed to hazardous dusts such as asbestos and silica and were employed in an at-risk industry, including excavation and demolition, road construction, stonemasonry, and some construction-related activities like abrasive blasting and brick cutting.
“Our Lung Bus may look like any other semi-trailer, but on board is a medical screening team including an experienced general practitioner who can provide a lung-health assessment, a radiographer performing chest X-rays, and a certified respiratory scientist performing lung-function tests. The full examination is just 25 minutes,” said Nick Allsop, icare group executive of care and community.
The Mobile Lung Bus is available free of charge to retirees.
“We recognise that it’s difficult for people in regional or rural areas to access specialist health services – they often have to travel long distances or experience lengthy wait times for an appointment – so that’s why we bring the Lung Bus to communities like Coffs Harbour, South West Rocks, and Ulladulla,” Allsop said.
The icare leader said the Lung Bus can also help high-risk employers meet their regulatory obligations to provide health monitoring for employees exposed to hazardous dusts, “at a subsidised rate of $100 plus GST per person.”
In 2017-18, the icare Mobile Lung Screen travelled more than 50,000 kilometres and provided lung-health assessments to 3,660 retired and at-risk workers at 71 locations across NSW.
