WA Govt must help fearful mine workers win real safety standards

19 March 2009

The AWU has called for all BHP operations within WA to be closed, and an independent audit conducted throughout their entire operation, after another Pilbara worker death.

The AWU Western Australia leader Stephen Price said today's tragedy at a BHP work site in Western Australia is the fifth death in 8 months.

The union leader warned that with the economy diving many workers are again too afraid to speak out about safety - for fear of workplace retribution from management.

State Gvt must pull BHP into line

"The AWU is asking how many is enough before the company is forced to act decently and before the State Government decides to pull BHP into line and says no more WA deaths are acceptable," Stephen Price, AWU Western Australia Secretary, said today.

Mr Price said that an investigation is underway now into the death of another worker on a BHP Billiton site, a 45 year old man from New South Wales working at Newman in the Pilbara region.

The 45 year-old died in hospital early this morning as a result of injuries he received in an accident at the company's operations at Newman.

Too easy for BHP to wash their hands of responsibility

" Even though not all of the deaths have involved direct employees of BHP, the common theme with all of these incidents is that they have occurred on a BHP site. It's too easy for BHP as the principle on the site to distance itself and blame the contractor," Stephen Price said.

" We called for a shutdown and an independent audit back in September, and again recently when a track maintenance worker was killed.

Offered the services of one of Australia's most respected OHS specialists

" On each occasion we have offered the services of the union's National Director for Occupation Health and Safety, Dr Yossi Berger, to be involved in the audit. That offer still stands.

" The AWU has continually raised our concern about workers being too scared to speak up about safety issues, for fear of reprisal. Our original concern was based around the unfair Workchoices legislation which saw everyone forced onto non-union individual agreements.

" Do not forget BHP embraced this method of individual employment contracts back in the late 1990's under the WA IR legislation. Since then there has been a demise in union presence on BHP sites, and in my view, safety has suffered as a direct result.

Nice OHS policies on the wall not worth the paper they are written on

" With Workchoice about to be abolished, our fear now is that with the current economic crises, and job losses in the thousands occurring, people are once again going to be too afraid to speak out about their safety concerns for fear of losing their jobs.

" BHP has lost touch with the working environment that their employees, and employees working for contractors on BHP's behalf, have to accept as part of their employment conditions.

Time for the State Gvt to act

"It's easy enough to have all the policies on the wall, but they are not worth the paper they are written on, if that corporate approach to safety is not the same as the one on the shop floor.

"It' s time for the State Government to act," the AWU Western Australia Secretary said." Take the pressure off our workers, step in and demand that BHP be subjected to a full safety audit.

" Now is the time to act over sub-standard safety regimes, not when there is another death," Stephen Price said.