Footscray
The builders of the Regional Rail Link (RRL) project have denied union claims of a safety cover-up.
Tensions boiled over last Tuesday with the arrest of a Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) organiser who tried to access a Footscray construction
site without carrying his right-of-entry permit. Organiser Joe Myles, 33, of Preston, was charged on summons with trespass.
Brad Jackson, Alliance general manager for the RRL Footscray-Deer Park project team, said the organiser had disrupted works at the McNab Avenue site on two days.
“On both occasions the representative was asked to leave the site repeatedly and when he failed to do so, police were called.” CFMEU construction secretary Dave Noonan said police were called in because consortium partner Thiess had “a culture of covering up bad safety practices”.
“The fact they called the police on an organiser who had been on the job many times and who had been called by workers on the site in relation to a safety issue raises serious questions about what Thiess are trying to hide.”
Mr Noonan said the organiser was responding to a call from a RRL worker.
He said the safety issues involved lifting tilt-up panels and access to a wall. “What sort of a country are we living in when a worker is handcuffed for not having his papers?”
But Mr Jackson said any claims of a safety cover-up on the RRL project were completely baseless as project standards were well above industry standards.
He also “categorically denied” claims that Thiess had discarded asbestos last July without going through the proper procedures.
“Both WorkSafe and the EPA have inspected the project on a number of occasions and have found no cause for concern in relation to the processes in place to manage asbestos.”
The federal government has announced a royal commission into corruption in the building industry.
BENJAMIN MILLAR
