DID UNIONS HAVE ROLE IN WEST GATE DISASTER?

THE Royal Commission found multiple contributors to the West Gate Bridge disaster on October 15, 1970 (GA 16/10). The finding stated:

“Throughout the construction and erection of the steel spans there was an extraordinary amount of industrial trouble, including strikes caused by demarcation disputes between unions and for other reasons. There were also numerous stop-work. meetings and much absenteeism.

“If the work of erecting span 10 to 11 had been proceeding at anything like a reasonable rate, the whole of the longitudinal splice in the top flange would have been completed except for a short length adjacent to the buckIe in box 4 5 prior to 15th October, 1970, In bad weather the men could have worked in box 8 assembling the necessary strengthening required inside it. Men would also have been available to fit the guards required on the access ladders to the two gantries beneath the span.

“This would have taken only a day or two and should have been given high priority. The whole length of the longitudinal splice in the bottom flange would then have been completed, thus considerably increasing the strength of the span and its resistance to failure under any circumstances.

“For their behaviour on the contract, which inevitably led to the quite unnecessary weakness of the span at the relevant time, the unions and men must bear their share of responsibility for the tragedy that ensued.”

So this terrible accident is not reflective of a great association between unions and safety.

Bill Fitzgerald