Workers down tools on Kingston site - ABC Online

Updated January 25, 2013 11:13:44

Workers at an inner-south Canberra building site have walked off the job after an apprentice electrician was injured in an electrical shock.

A fourth-year apprentice electrician was working on a circuit board at the Aurora Apartments in Kingston the accident happened on Thursday morning.

The construction union, CFMEU, says the woman was working along and unsupervised.

All work has stopped on the site while the CFMEU conducts safety inspections.

A union representative has told the ABC the apprentice was thrown from a ladder by the electrical shock and lay unconscious on the ground until workmates found her later.

The site, which is part of a development by Englobo Group, will not be opened again until after the Australia Day long weekend.

WorkSafe ACT has raised safety concerns and is investigating the site.

Work safety commissioner Mark McCabe says a prohibition notice has been issued for the job the apprentice was working on, but not for the whole site.

But he says there are not plans at this stage to officially shutdown the site.

Topics: workplace, work, kingston-2604, act

First posted January 25, 2013 10:53:45