Geelong construction workers’ injury claims on the rise   
Geelong Advertiser
September 19, 2017

MORE Geelong contruction workers are being injured on the job, sparking union calls for an increase of on-site safety inspections.   

Geelong construction workers made 152 injury claims in the 2016-17 financial year, up from 133 the year before. While the financial cost of these claims has not yet be calculated it is expected to exceed the estimated $10.9 million claimed the year before.

The rising number of claims were largely lodged by younger workers prompting a call from Worksafe for employers to improve staff education.

Workers aged 35-44 lodged 35 injury reports, while workers aged 15-24 claimed 31 injuries.

Worksafe’s executive director of health and safety Marnie Williams said poor traffic management and lack of processes were some of the key contributing factors to the rising number of claims in the Geelong region.   

“Some of the safety issues we are seeing in the Geelong region are workers working at height without appropriate fall protection, poor traffic management which fails to keep pedestrians and workers away from vehicles and machinery, poor processes in relation to asbestos removal, and people working too close to live overhead power lines.”

Geelong Trades Hall secretary Collin Vernon said unions wanted to see a dramatic reduction in workers being injured or killed on the job.

“We’ve seen time and again where employers are left to their own devices and corners are cut,” Mr Vernon said.   

“We welcome Worksafe’s move to town and they have a big challenge ahead to increase inspections and enforce the OHS Act.”

Of the 152 recorded injuries, 47 were traumatic joint, ligament or tendon injuries followed by wounds, lacerations and amputations.

The most common cause of injury was manual handling, which led to 50 injuries, followed by slips, trips and falls which accounted for 37 injuries. The sub-sector with the highest number of injuries was heavy and civil engineering construction with 43 recorded injuries. More than 500 young construction workers were injured statewide last year.   

Ms Williams said every employer, contractor or builder was obliged, under the OHS Act, to provide a safe working environment.

“The best way to understand the risks in your workplace is to speak with your workers. Construction sites are dynamic as they change from day to day so everyone needs to keep safety in mind and address any safety issue as they arise,” Ms Williams said.

Close to 26,000 Victorian workers were seriously injured while 26 people died on the job last year.    

CONSTRUCTION WORKER WORKPLACE CLAIMS 2016/17

— Geelong construction workers made 152 injury claims against their employers

— Workers aged 35-44 claimed the highest number of injuries (35) followed by workers aged 15-24 (31 injuries)

— The most common type of injury was traumatic joint, ligament or tendon injury (47 injuries) followed by wounds, lacerations and amputations (31)

— The most common cause of injury was poor manual handling (50 injuries) followed by slips, trips and falls (37 injuries)

— The sub-sector with the highest number of injuries was heavy and civil engineering construction (43 injuries)

Coalition would be interested in maintaining this momentum.  Less labor voters.

Some good union thuggery propaganda from the ultra Lefty BlackDay. A credit to GetUp! is this joker but just so monotonous. A text version of the ABC.

Shame on any employer or PC that injures an employee or contractor through bad work practices. It is good to see the laws changing so that employers can be held accountable and if req charged with murder.

Unions may have a bad corruption side but it's nothing different to any politician or political party.
I will say that a union site is much more pleasant to work on than some bob the dodgy builder site.
Safety is paramount. Bob the builder doesn't give a crap about you. At least a union job is a safe job. Noone should die at work because of corners cut or being expected to do something dangerous or loose your job.
It's out there and unless your in the game you have no place to make judgement.

hatman92 wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2017 at 8:03pm:


Well noone I know goes to work to deliberately injure themselves.

On a construction site you have a lot of trades concentrated in one area. We all work different. If so much as a penatration is left open and another trade falls into it then you have an incident.
But in your question the person that fell in the peno has a self influcted injury.

Only the nancy boy Unionised workers get injured and go on compo.
Tough luck to them and the real workers take their jobs.
These Union noobs obviously haven't worked on Bamboo scaffold, or crossed a river by just two ropes.

They can't compete with Confederate Workers and are falling like flies from injuries.
You can hear them cry "Wahhh - its not safe enough" 

HTFU !!!

I'm not surprise construction workers are getting injured.

At the back of my place 6 two-storey townhouses are being built, and from early morning to knock-off time there's nothing but endless chatter and laughter coming from the score or so workers.

Its time wrote on Sep 22^nd, 2017 at 9:38pm:


Times have changed and the only 'scab' is the Unions now.
Survival of the fittest and better workers.
Your Union workers are crap. Cotton woolled for so long - nothing but nancies now. We just get on with the job regardless. We don't need Unions to know how to work effectively. We make our own deals with our Employers and the benefits are just as good as what you Unions try to offer your workers.
Go back to the USA you Yankee Unionists.