Firstly a worker describes what it is like to be gassed with Chlorine:
The Western Construction sub-contractor, who did not want to be named, said he and another colleague were working in area 300 at the site several weeks ago when the alarm sounded for a leak of dangerous
chlorine gas.
The rigger and a colleague ran from the area they were working
in after the alarm sounded, but were directed the wrong way and ran into the chlorine gas plume.
“It was like someone had kicked me in the guts. I was vomiting and coughing.”
He said he suffered nausea, headaches, chest tightness and blisters to the back of his throat and had not yet been given a full clearance by his doctor.
“We were running the way the Tiwest worker told us to go and we ended up running into the plume. We were just in fresh air then all of a sudden I could taste it then smell it.”
The rigger, who has worked in the construction industry for about seven years, said he did not feel safe working at the Tiwest site.
Kwinana MLA Roger Cook said he had spoken with community members and unions concerned about the problems at Tiwest, which he said had been reported for several months.“This has been going on for some time; are they dealing with unstructured technology or are they just incompetent?” he said.“The community is starting to lose patience in regards to Tiwest.”Mr Cook said he welcomed the WorkSafe investigation but said the effectiveness of the government regulator had been undermined by budget cuts.
1 comment:
The state agencies involved with occupational health and safety and environmental monitoring should be really proud of themselves. Allowing this saga of corporate indolence to continue time after time. But lets not forget the statute of limitations for safety breeches what is it 2 or 3 years. I wonder if there will every be any epidemiological studies carried out and published on workers exposed on a regular basis to these fumes. The state health agency is available to do cover ups, like the Esperance nickel contamination onee. But wait a moment the two agencies mentioned previously were active in that too!!. Government sponsored?. But which government ?.
Lets hope the triple C wakes up in time.
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