The Australian Workers’ Union has raised concerns over tight deadlines and workplace safety at the Snowy Hydro 2.0 site after a worker was critically injured in a car accident on Saturday night.
The worker was returning to the remote off-site accommodation provided for workers in the middle of a storm when the accident occurred. He was unable to be flown by helicopter due to the weather and was transported to the Canberra Hospital by road.
The AWU believes that unless there are significant changes made to the workplace safety standards and housing arrangements for the site, it is likely more workers will be injured.
“This worker should never have been put in this situation. Future Generation should have halted work earlier in the day when the storm began to hit,” said AWU NSW Assistant Branch Secretary.
“This worker would still have had a long drive ahead of him, but at least he would have been travelling in safe driving conditions.
“Snowy Hydro has been beset by delays due to last summer’s bushfires and COVID-19 but it’s completely unacceptable that workers are being expected to pick up the slack by putting their lives at risk.
“This is tier one civil engineering project of national importance but safety standards are dangerously sub-standard.”
Almost all of the workers completing work on the project are housed off-site at accommodation approximately 60 minutes away from the project.
Mr Callinan said: “This incident should be a wake-up call for Future Generation to finish its onsite accommodation and amenities before proceeding with the tunnelling phase of the project. That should be its most pressing deadline.
“121 men lost their lives building the original Snowy Mountains scheme and the AWU will not allow history to be repeated.”