New Saftey Code Needed

By Maritime Union of Australia

In the wake of the tragic death of Adelaide wharfie Dean Robinson, the Maritime Union has intensified calls for a national occupational health & safety code on the wharves.

"Waterside workers are the only workers in Australia who have to walk into a floating factory they've never set eyes on each shift," said MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin. "No checks are required to ensure it is a safe workplace before the job starts. And few foreign ships conform to Australian safety standards. It's is a complete unknown. We need a safety code and we need it in place in every Australian port."

The Adelaide fatality was on board the Marshall Island flagged container/general cargo ship Cape Donington.

MUA National Council determined to pursue a national code last year and the union has been lobbying both state and federal governments for a code, which would mirror the Occupational Health & Safety Act for seafarers. The national secretary has written to all the major stevedores renewing the union's urgent support for a national code.

"Until the matter is resolved, it's going to become a real problem," he told the Lloyds List/DCN. "This is going to impact on productivity and it's going to impact on our attitude. We're not going to go into an unsafe workplace because the Federal Government isn't prepared to develop a policy around it. It's an urgent matter."

Federal Transport Minister Warren Truss, however, said it was a matter for the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. Meanwhile Assistant National

Secretary Rick Newlyn held meetings with South Australian government departments in July to formulate a code, which will then be enforced on the Adelaide wharves and rolled out state by state around the country.

"Wharfies are entering a death trap every time a foreign ship docks at the port," said Rick. "Some 10,000 ships, many registered in countries with lax safety laws, enter Australia's ports each year. There are around 30 of them on the coast at any one time. Some of the laws in countries such as Liberia and Panama and Tonga are that you don't even have to sight the vessel. You just pay the fee and register. Our members are risking their lives every time they step onto these ships. The danger is even greater when they have to use the ships' cranes and equipment.

At BHP Newcastle in the eighties the fatalities and other injuries were so great that the workforce got the company to agree to a strict regime where workers and the department inspected the vessel and its gear each time it came into port before work was allowed to commence. Injury rates plummeted. A rigorous safety training regime on the job also played a key role in reducing accidents, especially for the younger members.

"This is the sort of thing we are now talking to the state government about," said Rick. "You never know the conditions of a ship or its gear when it comes in. You are always guessing whether the equipment is safe and been maintained. Safety has come second to productivity for too long."