
A trade union claims workers at the White Rock Wind Farm are unhappy with the safety standards, after touring the site last week.
CFMEU met with workers onsite near Glen Innes last Thursday in response to an incident whereby three workers were injured in a single-vehicle rollover.
“The workers told us that they were unhappy with what the company has tried to put in place to mitigate the safety issues,” CFMEU organiser Dean Rielly told The Examiner on Tuesday.
“There’s not going to be any hard barriers on edges or embankments … we believe what Goldwind has put in place is not enough.
“There’s still a possibility of a worker taking another ute over the edge.”
Mr Rielly said he believed an investigation was underway into management.
“My understanding is not many workers were involved and it was more in management,” he said.
“We spoke to the guys who were directly effected by it [the incident] … they told us the engagement from the company as to what was going to be changed was unacceptable as far as they were concerned.”
Mr Reilly said Goldwind has also put a restriction on working hours to avoid driving onsite in the dark – but it’s more dangerous.
“If you come down off that ridge at 5pm in the afternoon, the sun is just blaring in your eyes,” he said.
“I’ve been out there late in the afternoon and you can’t see it’s so high up.”
Goldwind’s managing director John Titchen refused to comment on the incident when approached by The Examiner on Monday, referring media to a statement put out by the wind giant last month.
A spokesperson from Goldwind Australia said management took safety “extremely seriously on all our sites”.
SafeWork NSW had been notified and the site speed limit had been lowered from 40km per hour to 20.
Mr Reilly said CFMEU would continue pressuring Goldwind until a solution was found.