Water & Ports
Sydney Water Throws Keys to Contractors
- Details
- Published on Thursday, 26 June, 2008
Sydney Water has been so determined to cut costs that it was prepared to overturn long standing workplace practices to allow contractors on to its sites without being accompanied by authorised production officers. in an effort to cut overtime and other payments the management at Sydney Water, without any consultation, has attempted to abandon this practice.
Sewage Treatment Plants, Water Filtration Plants and Ocean Outfalls are sites that are paramount to the integrity of the state’s waste water treatment and drinking water supply and have always required the presence of Production Officers whose role has been to monitor the on-site plant and processes from start to finish. Among other duties they must oversee all visits to the site and ensure that Sydney Water operations are not disrupted by the presence of these contractors.
As well as plant security and integrity, there are serious OH&S implications of having external contractors traveling through and on these sites without being supervised by Production Officers. The ASU questions who will take responsibility for any “mishaps” that might occur through the work of external contractors while there are no Production Officers present.
As a result of these changes, ASU Delegates advised their colleagues to conduct full safety audits of their plants every morning before commencement of work. Management responded to these safety walks by taking the ASU to the Industrial Relations Commission claiming that they were time consuming and costing money. However the IR Commissioner did not exactly see it that way and ordered that the original practice be reinstated.
The Commissioner has directed that a trial operation be initiated to take place over the next three months to establish a procedure that would be suitable to all parties. Production Officers will be present on these plants at all times throughout the trials and ensure that the integrity of the system is maintained. The ASU is pushing for these systems to remain after the trials end.
