The ACT's Work Safety Commissioner has said the departure of the head of Canberra's peak builders' advocacy group will be a loss for the industry, despite several years of high rates of serious injuries on construction sites.
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Amid arguably the most significant week in decades for the capital's building industry as more than 1000 homes were condemned for demolition, Master Builders Association of the ACT executive director John Miller announced his resignation, to take effect at the end of March.
While the industry's union said the MBA had not accepted there was a safety problem, Work Safety Commissioner Mark McCabe said Mr Miller had allowed him to have an open and vigorous debate with MBA members, and it would be unfair to lay direct blame for the ACT's nation's worst construction safety record on the outgoing builders' head.
"I think my own view is it's going to be a loss, John was someone I could trust and felt I could work with," Mr McCabe said.
"I don't think you can put the blame at the feet of one person, or single out one body."
The resignation announcement, nearly 7.5 years after Mr Miller began in the role, came five weeks after the latest construction safety figures were released, which showed the ACT's annual rate of serious injuries in 2012-13 in the industry was 31.5 persons out of 1000, up from the 24.5 out of 1000 described in the critical Getting Home Safely report co-written by Mr McCabe in November 2012.
On safety, Mr Miller, a former Canberra Business Council executive director, said since the report the MBA had employed additional staff to identify issues on sites and had put in place an on-site construction management program to train supervisors and managers.
CFMEU ACT branch secretary Dean Hall said the MBA had not done enough to represent its sub-contractor members, with many unhappy about retention payments which he claimed were often wrongly kept by builders with superior bargaining power.
Mr Miller did not comment on retention payments but said the most common complaint the MBA received was from contractors "under enormous pressure from the CFMEU to sign unproductive pattern EBAs".
Mr Miller said in addition to leading the local industry through the Global Financial Crisis and expanding opportunities for career pathways through the creation of a University of Canberra degree, the development of precincts such as NewActon and the Kingston Foreshore had been highlights.
"I am exceptionally proud of what Master Builders has achieved for Canberra builders in my time as executive director," he said.
A successor will be chosen by the Master Builders ACT board after a recruitment process.
