Ann: Half Year FY24 Results Presentation, page-117

Safety is something that was hard fought for by workers in the 1980s. A mate and I once flew up to Cobar from Melbourne in 1982/1983 for a rigging job. We arrived at the site to find out we were replacing two blokes who had been killed working at the bottom of the new lift-shaft the previous week.

The accident happened because the makeshift platform that was being used to lower workers into the pit had got snagged on a reinforcing bar that was protruding from the side of the shaft. The only way we could control the winch was via a rope to the surface which we tugged on to give various signals. The platform tilted once it got snagged and it happened so fast that there was no way the workers could get to the signalling rope. So the 2 blokes on the platform fell to the bottom. But it was the drums full of chains, winches and other heavy equipment that also tipped off the platform and landed on top of those men. We used the same platform to get down to the worksite! Shortcuts like that used to happen regularly in workplaces that I worked in.

Whether you admire trade unionists or dislike them, workplace health and safety only happened through their pressure.

A safe workforce is a productive workforce.