A young worker has tragically died after falling 30 metres from scaffolding at the Barangaroo construction site in Sydney this morning.
Emergency services were called to the site, just south of the Sydney Harbour Bridge, at around 8.30am after Lend Lease construction workers reported that a man had plunged about 30 metres to the ground.
The young workers workmates attempted CPR on him but he was pronounced dead when the paramedics arrived on site.
At this stage, both WorkCover and the Union have not been able to gain access to the site as it is still being treated as a crime scene and being controlled by the Police. CFMEU officials state it’s still too early to say what made the young worker fall but it’s a tragedy. There are concerns though about the lack of supervision and mentoring for young workers on site as the young worker had only been on this site for a couple of weeks and was in an area he shouldn’t have been and was unsupervised.
The 500 workers that were on site, some of whom witnessed the tragic fall have walked off the job and are being assisted by the CFMEU and counsellors from Mates in Construction, a suicide prevention program for construction workers after discussions between the union and Lend Lease management.
There will be further investigations and meetings once the Police enquiries are complete.
State Secretary Brian Parker says “Another life lost at work is an absolute tragedy and something these workers will never forget. The safe return home from work is something that all workers should expect and demand and something we will always fight for. Abbott and O’Farrell are constantly looking to restrict union official’s right of entry to building sites and still looking to bring harsher penalties to union officials and workers that stop work due to serious injury or fatality at work rather than imposing harsher penalties on employers when their safety breaches and cost cutting result in the injury or even death of a worker. It’s appalling”.
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