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Canberra Today 13°/18° | Friday, March 29, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Letters / ‘Shameful nonsense’ on safety

CHARACTERISING the MoU between UnionsACT and the ACT government as anything other than a pay off in power to union backers (Alex White, CN, April 7) is nonsense.

quillAll safety, industrial, insurance and other issues are robustly addressed legally and transparently in long-established tender procedures.

UnionsACT has responded to their bosses at the CFMEU by trotting out the ever predictable safety line, the universal defence to any criticism. Safety is the single most important issue in our industry. The myth is that the CFMEU helps improve it. Today the CFMEU ACT has neither the expertise nor the credibility to deliver on safety.

In a recent survey of 70 Canberra construction firms, only one said the union had helped with safety. The result is consistent with industry experience of the union flagrantly and almost universally using safety as an industrial weapon.

CFMEU standard “safety” practice is to arrive with half a dozen heavies to shut down a site at a critical point in construction. The only acceptable first response to any legitimate safety concern is to immediately and constructively raise it on site. The fact that the union routinely delays notification and tips off the media ahead of the construction team means they are either deliberately putting people at risk, or the “safety” issue is an invention.

The union also has scant expertise on safety. One of the more embarrassing revelations of the Trade Union Royal Commission came when an ACT CFMEU official was forced to admit he had not even done the most basic safety training, despite having disrupted sites all over town.

The CFMEU deploys industrial officers (school teachers, lawyers, etcetera) backed up by muscle not safety experts.

CFMEU’s spurious use of safety statistics is another case in point. The union uses safety data as a weapon. The rest of the industry understands that reporting safety incidents, no matter how minor, helps deliver safer work sites. A stubbed toe reported today may equate to a fall prevented tomorrow. Yet the CFMEU continues to trot out ridiculous safety stats that discourage honest reporting. This includes the ludicrous claim that MBA ACT members injure 42 construction workers every month. Shameful nonsense.

The remarkable turnaround in safety in the ACT has come with a change of culture. The union’s confrontational approach has failed. Consultation and collaboration led by real, independent safety experts has helped dramatically improve safety on Canberra’s construction sites. WorkSafe ACT has done an outstanding job in shifting the culture to the point that they are now openly welcomed on work sites for the help they bring in keeping people safe. We’ve got a lot of work left to do, but we are seeing encouraging results.

Kirk Coningham, executive director, Master Builders Association of the ACT

Clean up Jolimont

I READ the comments of reader Mary, of Bruce, with interest (Grumpy column, CN, March 24). The Jolimont Centre is a disgrace to this city. It is dirty, unwelcoming and with no facilities after about 10.30pm.

I had to meet someone who was travelling on the bus that arrived at Jolimont at 10.30pm and the only people inside were the cleaners. I was not allowed inside. There were a few seats outside, but not the ideal situation to have particularly in that area of Civic as it is dark and one does not feel safe.

It is about time that the authorities exercised some common sense and had this place cleaned up and had the facilities available to travellers. After all, I do not think that people should be expected to wait outside in the depths of winter for arriving passengers.

When the bus terminus was out at the Canberra Rex Hotel, it was a much better option. Please get this place cleaned up – we are not a third world country.

Sadie, of Pearce

Grateful for hospital care

I HAVE just returned home after a five-week stay in Ward 6A of Canberra Hospital.

Words cannot express my appreciation for everything that was done for me. All the nursing staff at Ward 6A, the different medical teams involved and the wardsmen and women went above and beyond their duty in caring for me.
?My family and I are so grateful for the professional treatment and warmth towards us all during my time there.


Alicia Castilla, Calwell

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Ian Meikle, editor

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