Goldwind Australia has been cleared of breaking safety law in an accident in June where three workers were injured when a vehicle rolled down a slope.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
In a statement, the industry regulator said: “SafeWork has reviewed the incident with the principal contractor and is satisfied that measures put in place in relation to traffic control and risk management at the site comply with NSW work health and safety laws. SafeWork NSW’s investigation is closed.”
In the accident, two workers were rushed to hospital while a third worker, a 22-year-old man, was flown to Tamworth Base Hospital with spinal injuries and internal bleeding after their ute rolled 30 metres down an embankment.
The trade union, CFMEU, slammed the company, accusing them of unsafe work practices. CFMEU organiser, Dean Rielly said at the time that the union had been warning Goldwind management about safety concerns at the wind farm for some time –highlighting the need for hard barriers at embankments.
After the judgement by SafeWork, he expressed his disappointment and said that there were still areas of the project which needed barriers to prevent such an accident happening again.
June’s accident was the second reported this year. In April, a 43-year-old man was flown to Tamworth Hospital suffering a compound fractured ankle.
After the second accident, Goldwind said it had lowered the speed limit on the site from 40 kilometres per hour to 20 kph.
A spokesperson from Goldwind Australia told The Examiner that management took safety “extremely seriously on all our sites”.