Death on Qld Building Site

Today in Brisbane approx. 2000 construction workers gathered in Queens Park to support the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union’s (CFMEU) efforts to have the Australian Building Construction Commission abolished on the grounds that it hampers the union’s efforts to improve work site safety.

Myrian Gear, Chris Gear’s widow, attended the rally. You may recall Chris’ terrible accident back in June on the Gold Coast, where he fell from swing scaffolding.

Mrs Gear stated, “If the unions were allowed to do their jobs and go on-site, Chris wouldn’t have died.”

Spokesperson for the CFMEU, Michael Ravbar, said that before John Howard came in, when sites were deemed dangerous they were shut down and the problems fixed. But now there is a time delay before any action takes place. Ravbar also said that workers were under pressure to meet unrealistic deadlines. These were contributing to unsafe work environments due to fatigue and ‘dangerous corner-cutting’.

With deaths increasing by 35% on Qld building sites, and now after 3 deaths on Qld building sites in the last fortnight, as well as 18 worksite fatalities this year it sounds like the CFMEU and every construction site worker has cause for alarm…

And after yesterday’s shocking incident they may well have even more to add to their arsenal…

Tom Takurau, 25 years of age, who was working in a cherry picker on a construction site died at the Princess Alexandra Hospital after a concrete beam fell from a road project, crushing him.

The incident is currently being investigated and the CFMEU spokesperson says the concrete beam responsible for crushing Tom Takurau had not been tethered properly.

Our heart-felt condolences go out to Mr Takurau’s family and those of the other unfortunate workers. We can only hope their deaths will shake up the safety industry and changes will be made.