Union on warpath over power plant danger

The CFMEU is calling for answers on the work practices of Government Owned Corporations, saying last week's Callide Power Station explosion only narrowly avoided serious injury and death. The union's Mining and Energy division said site inspections revealed shrapnel punched holes in the walls, roof and shielding of the turbine hall - with part of the turbine flying hundreds of metres. A large piece of metal was embedded in the roof and had to be removed by a crane crew as it posed an ongoing risk to workers. CFMEU Mining and Energy vice president Shane Brunker said failure to face up to the managerial work practices and their decision-making on the ground could lead to more damage of the State’s assets and injury to workers in future. The fire in the turbine hall at the Biloela plant on May 25 set off a chain reaction that disrupted power to more than 470,000 customers in Queensland and New South Wales. CS Energy has confirmed it will rebuild the damaged generating unit at the centre of the incident and does not expect that unit (C4) to come back online for 12 months. In a media statement, the CFMEU accused Queensland Energy Minister Mick de Brenni of talking down the incident while it had been requesting dialog with him. And Mr Brunker said he had been raising concerns with work practices at the GOC’s for some time. “Callide did not have any control room operators with breathing apparatus training to perform essential tasks like entering switch rooms in an emergency to perform emergency switching, this recommendation was identified after a ‘bunker fire’ several years ago but fell on deaf ears," he said. “For some time, we have witnessed managements’ putting pressure on workers to reduce staffing on the units across the generation fleet, now we see workers’ opposition to this vindicated. “There are three other Siemens manufactured turbine units identical or very similar to the one which exploded at Callide C last week in operation in Queensland – another at Callide but also one at Kogan Creek and Tarong North. “At Kogan Creek we are concerned there is no on-site emergency response team on night shifts or on weekends. “The union has been trying for over a week to meet with Minister de Brenni to follow up on concerns already raised but with no response." He said CFMEU members were ready and willing to walk off the job to ensure they had a safe workplace and Queenslanders continued to have access to reliable electricity. Mr de Brenni said his office had been engaging with the union secretary since the event and would continue to do so. "In addition to constant contact with the union’s State Secretary, this weekend I’ll address the Labor Party state conference on this matter and expect to meet union representatives there,” he said. CS Energy confirmed that a large piece of metal was removed from the roof of the turbine hall by crane after the Unit C4 incident. "The piece of metal is being stored with other debris from the incident on-site as part of the investigation," a spokeswoman said. Meanwhile the Queensland Greens are calling on the State Government to divert the millions required to repair the Callide C coal-fired power plant towards a big battery and a transition package for displaced workers. The Greens want the Queensland Government to work with unions and the power companies to put in place an industry-wide workplace transition program, similar to that in Germany, including pooled redundancies, redeployment and retraining. “Spending $200 million on propping up coal would be throwing good money after bad. Coal is increasingly expensive and unreliable - for the cost of patching up this out-of-date technology, Queensland could have another big battery," Queensland Greens MP Michael Berkman said. “We know that early closures will be necessary for the State Government to meet even its 50 per cent renewables target by 2030 - why not put a plan in place for workers now, rather than springing redundancies on them in a few years’ time?"

Union on warpath over power plant danger

Industry Queensland

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