Winter Issue 2010- 'Special History Edition' - cfmeu

O F F C U T S
with Joe McDonald
Keeping members up to date
with news around Australia
WORKERS LEAVE DEATH TRAP
Southport: UNION officials fear
someone may die at a Southport
worksite after the construction
company was issued with three
notices for work dangers from
Workplace Health and Safety
Queensland Officials. Police were
called to the site and up to 80
tradies downed tools at the Philip
Usher Constructions H2O
apartment Block.
Two incidents involved three
workers who allegedly received
electric shocks.
There were fears workers could fall
two storeys to their death, citing a
lack of edge protection or railings as
part of the problem. There were
concerns about access to the site's
crane. According to workers, the
driver was required to climb a fence
and stand on a small plank two
storey’s above the basement in
order to access the ladder to the
cab.
SUPPORT FOR OLDER
WORKERS
Sydney: THE Federal Government
needs to do more than throw less
than $15 per person at training
initiatives, if it is serious about
increasing workforce participation
among mature age Australians,
according to construction workers.
The CFMEU Construction and
General Division, which represents
tens of thousands of workers
employed in the construction
industry, says the $43 million
retraining package unveiled by the
Federal Government would do little
to improve the plight of mature age
construction workers. CFMEU
Construction and General Division
National Secretary, Dave Noonan,
said the funds would not spread
very far across more than
2.8 million people estimated
to be over the age of 55.
“What we need is to ensure
that a job in construction is a
career for life and not one that is
terminated as soon as a worker
turns 50.” The CFMEU has said it
plans to make the plight of mature
age workers an industrial issue.
NAIL GUN SHOOTS TEEN IN
HEAD
Melbourne: A teenager was shot in
the head with a nail gun on a
Melbourne worksite. The 18-yearold
man was putting up a fence
when he was injured.
Intensive care paramedics from
Footscray arrived within three
minutes of the call, followed by
advanced life-support paramedics.
Intensive care paramedic Brett
Wilson says the man was bending
over when he was hurt. “The man
told us he was picking up off cuts
from the fence, and when he stood
up his boss accidentally fired the
nail gun.” Mr Wilson said. A sixcentimetre
nail had gone into the
top of the man's head.
He was taken to Royal Melbourne
Hospital to have the nail removed.
SURGE IN ILLEGAL WORKERS
Canberra: The Federal Government
is set to strengthen penalties
against the use of illegal workers
amid growing evidence of organised
and criminal recruitment practices
used by some employers.
Immigration Minister Chris Evans
has announced a review into
penalties facing employers who hire
illegal workers following a poor
success rate in prosecuting
offenders.
The move comes as figures showed
more 1271 people were caught
working illegally in the agriculture,
construction and hospitality sectors
in the nine months to March 31.
BOSS’S LACK OF SAFETY
LEADS TO HORRIBLE YOUNG
DEATH
South Australia: A court's been
told an Adelaide factory owner
thought extra safety measures were
unnecessary and considered an
investigator an aggressive bitch...
even after a young apprentice was
killed on his site. 18-year-old
DANIEL MADELEY died in April
2004 after his dustcoat caught in an
unguarded horizontal boring
machine at Diemould Tooling
Services in Adelaide, dragging him
into the gigantic drill and flinging
him around. He suffered injuries to
every part of his body his brain bled
severely, his spine was lacerated,
his arms and legs were broken and
both his feet were severed.
Giving evidence at an inquest into
Mr MADELEY'S death, former
Diemould General Manager
RUSSELL DANIEL says the then
owner NEVILLE GROSSE was
frustrated by the constant presence
of Safety Investigators in the factory
after the young man's death. But Mr
DANIEL said his former boss who
died in 2005 regarded all the safety
improvements imposed on the
company as unnecessary!!!
Construction Worker – Winter 2010 Page 57
CFMEU