Bosses Duck Decapitation

A Sydney building worker was decapitated in the same week company directors called on the Howard Government to water down safety laws.

Brendan Brown was killed instantly, and three others seriously injured, after prefabricated flooring collapsed on the Baseline Constructions site in Rhodes.

Building workers were using a crane to place the flooring when the accident occurred at the site where 300 residential units are being built.

Glen Inmer, 38, was taken to hospital with broken ribs, a broken leg and suspected head injuries after rescue crews freed him from beneath one of the concrete panels.

Daniel Reeves, 28, and Shane Banks, 31, also received treatment for injuries.

Brown, 43, leaves behind a wife and children.

"The CFMEU and WorkCover will be conducting a thorough investigation of this tragic death and will be looking to identify and rectify the cause to prevent it occurring," says CFMEU Safety Officer, Dick Whitehead, who said it was the fifth building site accident in NSW since Christmas.

"I'm calling on the Federal Government to spend more time with OH&S, and instead of winding the national occupational health and safety outfit back, to increase its staff."

The Australian Institute of Company Directors has called for occupational health and safety laws to be included in the Howard government's plans to create a single national industrial relations system.

Media reports indicate that the employers' push is driven by fears that proposed industrial manslaughter legislation will be too onerous on directors and executives.

"The community understands that if you kill someone while driving negligently you will face a gaol term," says CFMEU NSW Secretary Andrew Ferguson. "Why should negligent employers who kill be any different?"

Widow backs safety

Meanwhile the widow of a construction worker electrocuted at Westfield Shopping Centre at Tuggerah last year is determined that no other family should go through a similar trauma.

Andreia Viegas will be visiting construction sites this year talking to workers about the importance of safety as part of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union's continuing safety campaign.

Glen Viegas died on October 24 last year after he cut through a live electric cable.

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