Ten Cent Solution Cuts Beards

Tunnel workers on the Chatswood rail link are being told to shave their beards to save the boss money.

The project's contractors, Thiess Hochtief, introduced ten-cent paper masks for underground workers exposed to deadly silica dust.

"This is cost cutting gone mad," says Andrew Ferguson from 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 regulation 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. Workers with facial hair claim the masks are ineffective.

Tunnellers are getting 10-15 minutes use out of them sub-standard masks.

Workers argued in the Australian Industrial Relations Commission that the masks are uncomfortable and impractical in the wet and humid tunnel. workers refusing to work overtime, or work shifts longer than eight hours, to protest against the masks were ordered back to work by the AIRC.

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".

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Last modified: Tuesday, 15-Nov-2005 20:37:38 EST