OHS REPS @ WORK

19 September 2002

Building unions host successful health and safety conference in defiance of the Cole Royal Commision.

Building workers rally outside Royal Commission

Building union health and safety representatives, Bob Cameron, Minister for WorkCover, industry representatives, academics and health professionals gathered in Melbourne today for an occupational health and safety conference that building unions describe as the 'real' Conference. Around 300 building union OHS representatives and shop stewards from across Victoria marched down Collins Street and rallied outside the premises of the Cole Royal Commission declaring it a "health hazard." The union Construction Industry Health and Safety Conference coincides with a two-day, invitation-only health and safety conference convened by Commissioner Cole. The rally heard that the Royal Commission had devoted 150 days to the interrogation of building unions and only two days to health and safety, despite its' terms of reference. Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union State Secretary, Martin Kingham said the aim of the Royal Commission's health and safety conference was to undermine the important role of the union movement in identifying hazards and preventing deaths in the workplace.

"The Royal Commission is a health hazard. The Federal Government, aided and abetted by the Royal Commission, is hell bent on removing the only people who have the ability to intervene and save lives."

Mr Kingham said the royal commission's health and safety conference was an "invitation-only tea party," which excluded union health and safety representatives.

"We are going to have a real Construction Industry Health and Safety Conference. Faceless bureaucrats in Canberra can't intervene and save lives only health and safety reps can."

Victorian Minister for WorkCover, Bob Cameron, in a keynote address to the conference, said there had been a 25 per cent reduction in the incidence of injury on construction sites as a result of a cooperative approach to health and safety.

"At a time when the construction industry is being painted by some as beset with conflict it is encouraging to see such a spirit of co-operation in Victoria in the name of safety.

"Good health and safety practices in the workplace are a winner for workers and employers alike. The greatest gains can be made when we all work together with that common purpose", Mr Cameron said.

The conference also heard of the tragic impact of workplace fatalities on families and workmates from a number of speakers, including wives, mothers, OHS Representatives and OHS Officers. The Conference also heard that there had been two workplace fatalities on building sites in the past 24 hours. A 40-year-old father of two was killed at work yesterday in Perth when a roof section panel collapsed and a demolition worker died in New South Wales today when a building collapsed at the former BHP steelworks site in Newcastle.