April 28, 2015
The Electrical Trades Union has called for stronger measures to prevent further workplace deaths in Australia.
So far this year, 46 Australian workers have been killed at work; in 2014 there were 184 deaths.
“The number of workplace deaths in Australia is quite simply unacceptable,” ETU National Secretary Allen Hicks said, speaking ahead of International Workers’ Memorial Day events today.
“All workers have a right to go to work in the morning confident that they won’t be injured or killed.
“Their families should be able to feel confident that their loved ones will return home safe.
“Every workplace death is preventable, and each one represents the loss of a parent, a child, a friend and a workmate.”
The union also warned that proposed changes to national workplace safety legislation threatened to erode protections against workplace incidents, placing workers at greater risk.
“The proposal to move Australian workers to an unfair and unsafe national scheme only serves to endanger lives and must be put aside,” Mr Hicks said.
He also voiced support for the ACTU’s call to hold company directors personally liable for the deaths of workers on their payrolls.
Currently directors are able to restructure their businesses to avoid liability for workplace deaths.
