AWU mourns death of workmate

Date: 20 September 2002

The Australian Workers' Union is mourning the death of one of its members, Greg Rees, who was killed in a workplace incident at the former BHP steelworks in Newcastle yesterday.

Mr Rees was working on a demolition project at the Mayfield site in Newcastle when one of the buildings collapsed on him and injured two other workers at about 11am. Newcastle WorkCover is investigating the incident. The two workers have been treated in hospital with minor injuries.

AWU National Secretary Bill Shorten said it was a tragic loss of life: "The AWU is very upset by this terrible incident and our thoughts are with Greg's family,'' Mr Shorten said.

He said the AWU would do everything possible to assist WorkCover with its investigations. "We are working with local WorkCover inspectors, the NSW state demolition and asbestos coordinator and a team of Sydney engineers to investigate the tragic incident,'' Mr Shorten said. "At this stage we have little information about what went wrong yesterday. We will not know until the WorkCover and other investigations are completed.''

AWU Newcastle construction organiser Scott Wyatt said everyone was finding it difficult coming to terms with the death of a work mate and friend.

"I have known Greg for over 21 years, it is a shocking tragedy for all of us,'' he said.

Mr Wyatt said demolitions were dangerous work but the procedures and safety systems in place for the ex-BHP site were standard and had been checked and approved by WorkCover.

Mr Rees is survived by his partner and two children.

For further information

Contact:	Andrea Carson
Union:	Australian Workers Union (National Office)
Phone:	039 3298733
Contact Mobile:	0407 041933
Fax:	03 9329 2871
Email:	awu@iprimus.com.au
WWW:	www.awu.net.au; australianworkersunion.com

LaborNET is proudly created, designed and programmed
by Social Change Online for the Labor Council of NSW
[Credits] [Site Matters]