12:41 pm, Tuesday 30 April, 2013

According to a report in the Herald Sun thousands rallied today, marching through the centre of Melbourne led by the CFMEU in the name of safety in the workplace.

The march began outside the Trades Hall with a minute’s silence while facing the site in Swanston Street where three people died in a recent wall collapse.

The numbers were estimated to be between 5 and 10 thousand marchers and after the tribute they moved on to the Emporium building site that was blockaded by the union and its members last year.

Workers were warned prior to the rally by the Fair Work Building and Construction regulator that if they attended the rally without the permission of their employer that they would be breaking the law.

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03:41 pm, Monday 22 April, 2013

According to the CFMEU a miner that was fined $11,000 for smoking in an underground mine should have had a conviction recorded and the fine should have been more.

A spokesperson for the CFMEU Stephen Woods said that the miner risked his and the lives of his colleagues when he lit a cigarette in a mine near Mackay last year.

He said that the fine is low considering there is also no conviction; about 100 people’s lives were put at risk when he breached the safety laws. Smoking is a ‘cardinal sin’ in underground mines.

The miner was found guilty of breaching mine safety laws in the Rockhampton Magistrates Court last Friday and fined $11,000 with a similar amount in legal fees but with no conviction.

Mr Woods said that he hoped this incident helped to raise awareness about safety in underground mines that health and safety is not something that workers can be complacent about.

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01:26 pm, Tuesday 16 April, 2013

A union is worried the government will axe seven safety inspectors in Wollongong. CFMEU secretary Brian Parker called on the government to come clean with its plan to axe safety inspectors.

Illawarra Mercury reported that Mr Parker believed this move would be “the opening salvo in a bid to slash inspector numbers at the safety authority”.

“Given the important role WorkCover inspectors are meant to play in maintaining safety on construction sites, we are demanding to know what is going on,” said Mr Parker.

“Just last month, a 37-year-old man was killed at a Wollongong glass manufacturer when a sheet of glass fell on top of him.

“It is appalling that we can have fatalities on job sites and at the same time, WorkCover is cutting inspector numbers.”

Mr Parker said that losing safety inspectors meant “no people on the beat”.

“In the industry, there are a lot of inferior products coming in from overseas, a lot of work is high risk… stuff like steel structures and scaffolding coming in, so there will be no policing of that.

“It really means no people left on the beat anymore.”

The NSW government defended the move saying it will not put workers and the public at risk.

A WorkCover NSW spokesperson told Illawara Mercury that the changes will make the department “more agile, flexible and responsive  to community needs to ensure resources are allocated to areas of greatest demand.”

The spokesman also said that the changes aim to achieve improved work safety cultures.

“Following these changes, there will be no reduction in the number of WorkCover inspectors [which] will remain at 315, the highest number of inspector positions in Australia,” said the spokesperson.

“This change will enable WorkCover to meet the challenge of maintaining falling NSW injury and fatality rates, and focus on industries with the highest risk to get injured workers back to work as soon as possible,” he said.

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03:50 pm, Thursday 28 February, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Officials from the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) found 23 asbestos fragments at Sydney’s Barangaroo site. The discovery happened just ten minutes after a building and engineering company told them the area has been certified to be asbestos-free.

According to a Courier Mail report, CFMEU organiser Darren Taylor said workers raised concerns regarding asbestos discovery in the area three weeks ago.

“If its actions over the past three weeks are any indication, [the company] is clearly out of its depth and has no appreciation of the danger asbestos poses,” said Mr Taylor in a statement.

“It defies belief that a company could certify a site clear of asbestos and can walk in and out in 10 minutes have 23 pieces of asbestos fragments.

“[The company] are playing with these workers lives.”

Last year, around 150 workers stopped work because of asbestos concerns. (Read SafetyCulture Report).

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12:02 pm, Monday 18 February, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Asbestos victims and two Australian unions have launched a new campaign to make the country asbestos-free by 2030.

The Asbestos Free Future has been launched to address the threat of asbestos which is still present in many older homes as well as government and commercial establishments.

The Australian Manufacturer Workers’ Union (AMWU), The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), and several asbestos groups are calling on the Federal Government to provide funding and implement the Asbestos Management Review Committee’s full recommendations, which would raise awareness on the risks of asbestos exposure and reduce the rate of asbestos-related diseases in Australia.

AMWU National Secretary, Paul Bastian said asbestos poses serious threat to the community and that there is more that needs to be done to completely eradicate asbestos from the country.

“It’s time for the Australian Government to implement a strategy to effectively tackle the threat of asbestos. That means the recommendations from the Asbestos Management Review Committee need to be implemented and fully funded to eradicate asbestos from our environment by 2030.

“The fact that asbestos-related disease is still killing people, and isn’t expected to peak until 2020 means we really need to combat hidden traces of the deadly material in our homes and commercial buildings.

“What is really concerning about asbestos in Australia, is that far too few people know about the dangers or that it is still present in our environment.

“That is why we need to establish a dedicated National Asbestos Authority, and a national set of laws. We need every one of the Asbestos Management Review recommendations implemented to make sure Australia is asbestos-free by 2030,” said Mr Bastian.

CFMEU’s Construction and General Division assistant secretary, Lindsay Fraser said removal of asbestos from government and commercial buildings should be prioritised.

“Asbestos Free Future is also a campaign to raise awareness among younger Australians about the ongoing dangers of asbestos exposure. Many of the victims are now “third or fourth wave” contracting the asbestos related diseases through home renovation projects rather than from the workplace.

“As many as two or three houses built between WWII and 1983 contain asbestos. We need the National Asbestos Authority strategies in place to work towards an asbestos free Australia by 2030,” said Mr Fraser.

SafetyCulture reported that a recent poll showed majority of Australians want the federal government to ensure the removal of asbestos from all homes and public buildings within two decades. (Read SafetyCulture report).

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05:22 pm, Friday 25 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

Workers of an apartment site in Canberra have walked off the job after an apprentice electrician suffered from an electric shock in Canberra on Thursday.

The apprentice was working alone on a platform ladder and received shock from a live circuit which she thought has been switched off. (Read SafetyCulture Report).

According to ABC News, all workers have stopped work on the site while safety inspection is being conducted.

A CFMEU representative told ABC that the victim was thrown from a ladder during the shock and was unconscious until workmates found her.

The site will not be opened again until after the Australia Day long weekend.

ABC further reported that CFMEU spokesman Dean Hall said a site meeting was conducted and that the decision to walk off the job was made by the workers.

“We’ve found some fundamental failings. When the emergency procedure was let off… the first four workers that came out couldn’t tell us where the emergency assembly point was,” said Mr Hall.

“There’s been a breakdown of communication. There’s paperwork in place but little understanding on site of practical implications of safety.

“There’s a fundamental breakdown in consultation and communication,” he said.

Mr Hall also said that workers are already frustrated and that they feel that “safety is a paid lip service.”

“That’s got to change and that’s why the ACT has a terrible record in leading the nation on workplace injury and fatality rates.”

WorkSafe ACT is investigating the incident. Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said a prohibition notice has been issued for the job the victim was working on, but there are currently no plans to shut the site down.

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01:49 am, Friday 25 January, 2013

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

An electrical apprentice suffered from an electric shock at a building site in Canberra on Thursday.

The woman was brought to the Canberra Hospital after the accident. Canberra Times reported that according to initial investigations, the apprentice was working alone on a platform ladder and received shock from a live circuit which she thought has been switched off.

“It’s supposed to be turned off and when it is, it should be tagged so that no one else turns it back on,” said Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe.

“She believed it had been turned off, but it had been turned back on.

“We will probably be issuing notices on the employer.

There’s a couple of things we’re investigating, mainly some of the work practices involved and how the power, or how the electrical circuit, came to be live,” he said.

This is just one of the series of work related injuries and deaths in the ACT since last year and the Government has committed to conduct an inquiry into compliance with work health and safety laws in the ACT construction sector.

Canberra Times further reported that CFMEU could take serious action over the latest accident.

“The CFMEU is extremely concerned about the reports coming from that building site,” said CFMEU branch secretary Dean Hall.

“This is very distressing. She’s very lucky to be alive.

“Every worker around the territory should be concerned about someone allegedly turning electrical wires back on when they should have been off.”

He said electrocution was one of the major causes of fatality in construction sites.

The inquiry into health and safety laws on ACT building sites found that the ACT had a higher rate of serious claims in the last 12 months compared to other states in the country, and that 1 in 40 workers in the construction industry  will suffer a work-related injury which will result to workers being off from work for at least a week. (Read SafetyCulture report)

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11:24 am, Friday 21 December, 2012

The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union is asking workers and the community to sign a petition asking a leading oil company to give its employers a break and to stop bullying workers.

According to a news release released by the union, labourers have been banned from using chairs and told not to sit down during their shifts.

A leaked memo, cited by the Australian Financial review says: “Labour is not allowed to sit down during normal working hours, unless their duties require. Labour is allowed to sit down during normal working hours in the approved shade huts for short rest breaks and hydration. Full crews are not allowed in the shade hut, only one at a time so work can always continue on the site.”

The memo follows reports of a $9 billion blow-out in production costs.

According to the union, workers can be docked wages from violating these procedures.

“But any worker who puts in a 12 hour shift doing manual work in 45 degree heat deserves to sit down every now and again,” said the Blue Collar Alliance of Union (AMWU, CFMEU, MUA).

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02:03 pm, Wednesday 28 November, 2012

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

The operator of a crane which collapsed yesterday became an instant hero after he swung the arm of the crane so it fell on scaffolding and not on the busy streets below.

“The fire just began… just started,” the crane operator named Glen told Channel Ten.

“I got down. I tried to extinguish it, but it needed more than an extinguisher.”

CFMEU through The Sydney Morning Herald was relieved no one got hurt during the incident, when the crane blazed and collapsed at an inner Sydney construction site at about 9am yesterday. Read SafetyCulture report.

“If this crane was pointed out on the street… and it caught fire there could have been hundreds of innocent bystanders killed here today,” said CFMEU state secretary Brian Parker.

“That jib could have collapsed onto the road. It could have been motorists, it could have been pedestrians… It’s just by chance that it wasn’t facing that way when it’s caught fire.”

The Sydney Morning Herald further reported that fire investigators were unable to access the crane cabin due to stability concerns.

WorkCover is currently investigating the incident.

“This is an extremely serious workplace incident and it is fortunate no one was injured or killed,” said WorkCover in a statement.

“WorkCover inspectors are now on site investigating how the collapse occurred and will ensure the crane is stable prior to any recovery work.”

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02:16 pm, Monday 26 November, 2012

Photo: SafetyCulture Library

An inquiry into the construction industry revealed that at least one injury happens on Canberra construction sites on a daily basis.

Four workplace fatalities have been recorded in Canberra over the past twelve months. Because of this the ACT Government will commission an inquiry into the construction sector’s work practices.

According to an ABC report, the data has found that the State had a higher rate of serious claims in the last 12 months compared to other states excluding Tasmania.

The ACT also ranks highest for serious claims requiring 12 weeks or more off work. The State averages 9.5 claims per 1000 workers – double the national average of 5.2 claims per 1000 workers.

The report also found that 1 in 40 workers in the construction industry will suffer a work-related injury which will result to workers being off from work for at least a week.

A construction union believes that actual statistics may even be worse than the results of the report. CFMEU ACT branch secretary Dean Hall said hospital data should have also been examined.

“If you ask any of the nurses or doctors who work in our casualty wards or emergency wards, heaps of people present in high-viz (visibility) clothes from construction sites who have been hurt,” said Mr Hall.

A separate survey conducted during the Safety Culture Leadership Forum by the Masters Builders Association in Canberra last week found that many builders perceived safety compliance as overly complex and burdensome. Read SafetyCulture report.

ACT Master Builders Association (MBA) excutive director John Miller supports further investment in safety but says majority of people in the industry are doing the right thing.

“We’ve got people who are investing strongly in safety and the percentage of their revenue going into safety are quite substantial.

“Well obviously we’ve got to make sure that costs are maintained, but (also) that our people aren’t using costs to short-cut safety.

“We’ve had all our commercial builders in looking at different ways that they can address the safety issue recently.

“That’s a cost to them and they’ll continue to invest in that way,” he said.

The inquiry’s full findings will be made available today.

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