AWU: "Heads must roll after mass silicosis diagnosis"

News that 13 tunnel workers in the still under-construction M6 tunnel in New South Wales (NSW) have been diagnosed with silicosis “should prompt immediate prosecutions by SafeWork NSW to bring those responsible to justice”, the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) said in a statement.

“The scale of this health disaster is staggering,” AWU Assistant National Secretary Chris Donovan said. “Thirteen workers on a single project were diagnosed with silicosis — an entirely preventable disease.”

The tunnels being constructed by the workers will become stage one of the M6 — the four kilometres of tunnels linking the M8 at Arncliffe to President Avenue, Rockdale.

“This isn’t just negligence, it’s a complete betrayal of workers,” Donovan said. “And we know workers on the WestConnex M4 East, new M5, and Rozelle Interchange were exposed to dangerous levels of silica dust.”

Donovan also criticised SafeWork NSW. “Not one prosecution has been launched by SafeWork NSW, zip, zilch, zero; that’s a damning indictment,” Donovan said. “Tunnelling companies and SafeWork NSW knew about dangerous silica dust levels since 2017, yet failed to take meaningful action.

“The fact that we have workers being diagnosed with a fatal lung disease while companies continue to operate with impunity is a damning indictment of our regulatory system.

“These aren’t just statistics — these are workers whose lives have been permanently damaged while building Sydney’s infrastructure,” Donovan said. “These men and women will spend the rest of their lives coughing, out of breath playing with their kids, and as the disease progresses they may require a lung transplant; there is no cure or treatment.”

Early this month, the NSW Government announced that a new Expert Taskforce has been established to oversee and help address silica-related health risks for workers in tunnelling projects. Made up of industry, government, medical and union representatives, the taskforce will provide expert guidance to prevent and manage silica and other dust-related disease associated with tunnelling projects in NSW. Major tunnelling projects, the government noted in its statement, present heightened risks for silica-related lung disease.

Four broad areas of action have been identified to help focus and guide the taskforce’s work. These are: best practice Work Health and Safety controls, better use of data with more transparent access, improved health monitoring, and enhanced compliance.

Information on crystalline silica and new safety requirements can be found here, via the SafeWork NSW website.

Image credit: iStock.com/travenian. Stock image used is for illustrative purposes only.