Construction firms have been urged to clean up their act when it comes to using tower cranes on Canberra work sites, after five stop work prohibition notices were issued this year and an audit of crane activity reveals widespread non-compliance.
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The audit was launched earlier this year, after a rising trend of safety incidents in the use of tower cranes on ACT work sites.
The man died after being struck by a small crane when it rolled over while trying to move a large generator on the site, sparking a major WorkSafe ACT and ACT Policing investigation, with a report expected to be given to the Coroner.
Crane activity on major construction sites around Canberra has been high in the past year, with 21 tower cranes working on several high-rise apartment developments and the ACT government's public housing demolition and renewal project among other projects.
The audit found poor work health and safety compliance across the board, with five stop work prohibition notices issued due to what Work Safety Commissioner Greg Jones called "significant and imminent safety matters being discovered".
Among the specific problems discovered were: non-compliant zoning and anti-collision systems, failures to verify electrical supply and wiring systems, inadequate or non-existing emergency rescue procedures and at least one failure to complete a site-specific risk assessment.
Mr Jones said the audit revealed safety practices on sites using cranes were simply "not good enough".
"As an industry there needs to be a bigger emphasis on safe work practices and I am committed to working with employers, industry bodies, unions and employees to improve compliance and build a strong safety culture," he said.
"To enhance future compliance and to make certain that every tower crane in the territory is set up and operating safely, I am implementing a new system that requires industry to notify WorkSafe ACT prior to setting up a tower crane in the territory."
Mr Jones said WorkSafe ACT would check every crane operating in Canberra as part of the set up, in a bid to "lift industry compliance and make sure our workers are safe".
"Construction is a dangerous industry and it is a priority to ensure that we continue to work with industry to reduce risks and hazards on work sites through education, training and regulation," he said.
While WorkSafe ACT had not previously physically inspected all tower cranes operating in Canberra, before work started, Mr Jones said that would now happen, and he believed the move was a "proactive" one, despite relying on a trend of issues emerging before the audit began.
CFMEU ACT secretary Dean Hall said the audit had highlighted the ACT's "disgraceful" work safety record and showed it was time for the ACT government to legislate new rules, rather than leave them as guidelines.
"In the same week as the Dreamworld tragedy - which was a real tragedy and my heart goes out to their family and friends - in the same week as that, six workers died on construction sites around the country," he said.
"Dreamworld is still closed, but if a worker dies on a construction [site], those sites are usually re-opened in a week."
Master Builders Association ACT deputy executive director Michael Hopkins said the audit had highlighted issues the industry was working to address with the government.
He said that ultimately safety was "everyone's priority" and MBA believed WorkSafe ACT had struck the right "balance between education and enforcement".
WorkSafe also planned to complete a follow-up audit of all tower cranes "in the near future" to ensure those operating in Canberra were compliant with all work and safety regulations, which was expected to take a tougher line on crane operators if the issues were not resolved.
A series of three crane incidents sparked a safety warning in July 2016.
- Two cranes crashed into each other because of inadequate communication between the operators in one incident.
- In another incident, a crane boom came into contact with the hoisting ropes of another crane.
- In another case, a crane boom was hit by the raised boom of a concrete truck.
Crane safety concerns arose again on August 2.
- The crane at the University of Canberra hospital site was shut down after WorkSafe issued a prohibition notice to fix a "spooling issue" where a cable was not correctly wrapped or stored onto a drum. It was fixed and the notice lifted.
- Days later on August 4, a 62-year-old Sydney man died after a mobile crane rolled over while moving a large generator at a low height at the University of Canberra public hospital work site.
On August 26 further crane issues arose.
- Both the CFMEU and WorkSafe ACT said the crane operator dropped a pre-cast concrete panel weighing several tonnes at the Trilogy Apartments work site in Phillip
- A company linked to the death of a man at a Canberra work site has had another of its cranes temporarily shut down. Operator error forced Canberra's workplace safety watchdog to slap a prohibition notice on the RAR Group tower crane on a Phillip construction site on Monday
