MICK CONNOLLY Reports
TWU get action on safety issues at Kwinana yard

Following complaints about shocking working conditions at Kleenheat's Kwinana depot I dropped in for a bit of a bo peep. It was still summer and stinking hot when I visited the yard and I quickly established that the gripes were NOT exaggerated. The first thing to catch my eye were the clouds of chocking dust being kicked up by heavy trucks on a large area covered in blue metal.

I mean for goodness sake we're living in the 21st Century! Had nobody told management about the invention of bitumen and concretefi
Apparently workers had been complaining about the dust for 20 years only to be given the "Mirrors" treatment. - "Yeah OK, we'll look into it". Nothing had ever been done about what I considered to be a serious health issue. You'd need a big pair of robust lungs to be sucking up that crap year after year. So I jumped up and down until Kleanheat got the message and agreed to fix the problem.

As an interim measure they have coated the area with a liquid solution that traps the dust. This has made things better in the short term. However, they are in the process of employing contractors to hard stand the area. I'm paying regular visits to check on progress.

However, the dust wasn't the only safety concern at the depot.

Carlisle Contractors are employed by Kleenheat to re-fill and maintain all their gas bottles. A lucrative little business I'd reckon. This work is carried out in a big tin shed that you wouldn't keep animals in for fear that they'd kark it from severe heat stress. When we checked the temperature in the shed with a thermometer the mercury shot up to 50% Celsius. Marble Bar has nothing on this joint.
Yet people were being made to swelter in there with no ventilation fans or cool water. A bloody disgrace if you ask me!

So I began jumping up and down again. It keeps me fit and generally gets results, as it did on this occasion.

The company agreed to:
• Coat the shed with a special paint that they claim will reduce the internal heat by between 10 and 15 degrees.
• Install cooling fans.
• Put in a cold-water fountain.

Of course it's now winter when these things aren't as necessary. But rest assured - I'll be back when things start warming up again.