TOPIC:

Yesterday there was another terrible construction site death, a very nasty one with some poor bloke trapped in a sewer and apparently drowned to death at a work site in Mosman Park.

This come after two other recent work site deaths, something is going wrong out there.

With a difficult economy and a lot of civil builders going bust , it appears that a lot of people are cutting corners and taking risks.

I think we need more Industrial Inspectors employed to check sites and arrest these trends.

Yep...spot on Baz. No doubt our mate Sean42 will say it's all down to the decline in union participation but there does appear to be some shonky contractors putting people at risk.

That's a hard one Baz. The industry I'm in is regulated to buggery and we have our own "industrial inspector". Some of it is overboard, but if it prevents one workplace injury, we're all for it. Trouble is, as said, there's shonks out there and no matter how many regulators you have, there'll always be people taking short cuts.

BC wrote: Yep...spot on Baz. No doubt our mate Sean42 will say it's all down to the decline in union participation but there does appear to be some shonky contractors putting people at risk.

Yep BC, given its impossible to get onsite here unless you have a CFMEU ticket one wonders just what union membership is getting them, because we know some builders are paying union bosses for IR peace,

58shark wrote: That's a hard one Baz. The industry I'm in is regulated to buggery and we have our own "industrial inspector". Some of it is overboard, but if it prevents one workplace injury, we're all for it. Trouble is, as said, there's shonks out there and no matter how many regulators you have, there'll always be people taking short cuts.

Im talking about WorkSafe inspectors, not those employed by companies .

Sounds like this bloke was doing sewer work and it doesn't sound like the proper precautions were put in place, I wonder if there was even a licenced plumber supervising?

Baz the RBL Crane tower index saids a bit about how hard it is in Wa.That count is the main Crane tower on each construction site in the big Au citys.
Sydney 346
Melbourne 197
Brisbane+Goldcoast 129
Perth 27
Adelaide 15.
The Cfmeu has gone from 12,000 members a decade ago to just over 5,000 today.They won't have any Wa closed shops till the big shopping centres start next year.They can't enter any construction site without a permit applied by a court.If they enter illegally like Joe McDonald they can be fined over $25,000 by the ABCC.So it's up to the Builders and Worksafe to look after safety atm.lol.
Only Electrical,Plumbing,Form Work and Concrete have industry EBA's.All the other trade Eba's have collapsed in the last few years.

Bazza wrote: Yesterday there was another terrible construction site death, a very nasty one with some poor bloke trapped in a sewer and apparently drowned to death at a work site in Mosman Park.

This come after two other recent work site deaths, something is going wrong out there.

With a difficult economy and a lot of civil builders going bust , it appears that a lot of people are cutting corners and taking risks.

I think we need more Industrial Inspectors employed to check sites and arrest these trends.

What I will say is that on this forum previously I made the very point that the RC into the "pink batts" had nothing to do with trying to improve the safety of workers but was purely a base attempt by Tony Abbott to politically damage the Labor Party. I don't recall getting much support for my proposal that if Tony Abbott was serious about workers' safety he would have called a RC to investigate all deaths at work. That would have allowed a meaningful investigation into workplace safety and meaningful reform.

Who supported my call for a much broader RC?

you need more unions and more inspectors -- I think some of the laws are on statute, but as a few posters have suggested, one has the impression, that in large part, at least, the industry is self-regulated.

By the way, the ALP are in office, what are they doing about making the work place more union friendly?

Bazza wrote:

58shark wrote: That's a hard one Baz. The industry I'm in is regulated to buggery and we have our own "industrial inspector". Some of it is overboard, but if it prevents one workplace injury, we're all for it. Trouble is, as said, there's shonks out there and no matter how many regulators you have, there'll always be people taking short cuts.

Im talking about WorkSafe inspectors, not those employed by companies .


Sounds like this bloke was doing sewer work and it doesn't sound like the proper precautions were put in place, I wonder if there was even a licenced plumber supervising?

I understand that Baz, but companies have to start somewhere. This can’t go on. I, like many others, know what it’s like to see a friend’s family go through the ultimate tragedy.

ArkRoyal wrote: you need more unions and more inspectors -- I think some of the laws are on statute, but as a few posters have suggested, one has the impression, that in large part, at least, the industry is self-regulated.

By the way, the ALP are in office, what are they doing about making the work place more union friendly?

Great point Ark.Apart from the collection of licence fees.Worksafe still phone builders 24 hours before arriving on there sites for safety inspections.As Bazza saids should be more inspectors out on the road all day.Now that the cfmeu cant kick the builders up the backside.Worksafe has to be proactive not reactive.