The Guardian 20 April, 2005
Ten-cent safety
Tunnel workers on the Chatswood rail link in Sydney are being told to shave their beards
to save the boss money. Contractors, Thiess Hochtief, introduced ten cent paper masks
for underground workers exposed to deadly silica dust.
Workers say facial hair renders the masks ineffective but Thiess Hochtief has ordered them to
have a shave and get on with the job.
"This is cost-cutting gone mad", said Andrew Ferguson from the state Construction Division of
the CFMEU. "The real solution is to improve ventilation so there is no need for the masks, or at
the very least that something better than a ten cent paper mask from a hardware
store.
"This flies in the face of WorkCover order of controls. The WorkCover rules contained in the
OHS regulations say that a risk must be eliminated, and if it cannot be eliminated it must be
controlled."
The "order of control" calls for risks to be minimised by engineering means, such as adequate
ventilation, before using personal protective equipment, which should be the last resort in risk
management according to the law.
Thiess Hochtief moved to the ten cent masks after a new occupational exposure standard for
silica dust came into effect in January, halving the acceptable levels.
Tunnellers are getting 10-15 minutes use out of each sub-standard mask.
Workers argued in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission that the masks are
uncomfortable and impractical in the wet and humid tunnel.
They were refusing to work overtime, or shifts longer than eight hours, to protest against the
masks but were ordered back to work by the Commission.
Inhaled dust can cause silicosis — a scarring of lung tissue which makes it difficult to breathe —
and increases the risk of lung cancer. A WorkCover inspector told the commission the masks
were "uncomfortable, you can't communicate in them, they're hot".