CFMEU Construction and General Division National Executive
Overnight a 36-year-old concretor was seriously injured after falling backwards 4 metres between the formwork edge and formwork screen on a Richard Crookes Construction site at Parramatta. The incident happened at 8.30pm and the worker hit formwork frames as he came down.
He was rescued by ambulance crew after some difficulty and taken to hospital. There was no crane crew on site that could have facilitated a an emergency rescue. The worker is believed to have suffered broken bones and fractured injuries to his feet. CFMEU representatives are on site today with Safe Work NSW investigating the incident.
This morning, on a site in Randwick the personnel of the same builder, Richard Crookes Constructions, responded to two CFMEU officials who arrived on site to investigate another safety concern by calling the local police and 11 police officers arrived on the job.
The CFMEU is appalled that after a serious incident on one project the response of the builder on the other project was to hinder the CFMEU officials in investigating safety.
As noted by NSW State Secretary Darren Greenfield:
"This is yet another serious safety breach on a construction site. Some hard questions have to be asked. Why the need to pour concrete at 8.30pm? Why the lack of emergency procedures and personnel? Why, in response to the Union investigating further safety problems, the first response of the Company was to call the police?"
"There is an epidemic disregard for safety on construction sites, and after the fatality on 21 August of formworker Mohamed Riche who died after falling 5 floors, you'd think that all builders would be doing whatever they can to ensure that workers do not get injured or killed from falls from heights. These risks are entirely preventable and this young man today is very lucky to be alive".
"It is also a disgrace that the Company's response on another project after such an incident was to call the police on union officials doing nothing more than following up safety. It's our job and we will not be deterred by the bullying tactics of builders. I'm sure the police have better things to be doing."
"The increased number of injuries and deaths in our industry is endemic of the failure of SafeWork NSW to properly enforce safety laws, frankly they are complicit in safety breaches by their inaction. It's too late once someone has been killed or injured. We need a proactive regulator that gets out there and prevents injuries and deaths at the workplace."
Darren Greenfield, CFMEU NSW State Secretary 041362276
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