Construction safety crackdown continues - ABC Online

Updated December 06, 2012 08:38:28

Canberra's construction industry is facing further disruptions as WorkSafe ACT ramps up efforts to clean up the building sector.

Work at the Nishi apartment complex Acton has been stopped after a surprise blitz by WorkSafe inspectors on Wednesday found multiple safety breaches.

The building union, the CFMEU, also stepped in to temporarily close two sites for failing to adequately protect workers from asbestos.

Dean Hall from the CFMEU says workers on a job at the defence base HMAS Harman and at a landscaping site on the Kingston foreshore were alarmed when they realised they were exposing themselves to potentially deadly asbestos fibres.

He says when the union arrived at the HMAS Harman site, they found a man hosing down a retaining wall that had asbestos mixed into it .

"A worker who was controlling it was someone who had no training or expertise in asbestos," he said.

"The guy who was actually hosing it down was a bricklayer and when I talked to him about what he was doing and explained to him that he was trying to control asbestos on the site for everybody he was quite shocked.

"He'd been given a face mask which was down around his neck, it wasn't over his mouth or nose.

"When I explained to him what the possibility of contamination would result in, that it's a very slim chance but you only need one fibre to get mesothelioma, he was horrified and jumped back over the barrier and said 'I'm not getting paid to get that disease'."

Mr Hall says he is amazed by the lack of knowledge and understanding of asbestos.

"Just about every time we dig something up in Canberra we hit asbestos," he said.

"It baffles me why we haven't got mandatory (asbestos) identification training yet."

He says most employers are not prepared to spend money on training unless it is mandatory.

"It's unfortunate that's how 90 per cent of people in the building industry operate," he said.

"Unless you tell them in black and white you have to do it, then they won't do it."

The CFMEU expects more incidents will come to light in the coming days as workers continue to tip-off authorities.

Topics: building-and-construction, states-and-territories, unions, workplace, act, canberra-2600

First posted December 06, 2012 08:35:46