HUNTER man Tim Macpherson, who died earlier this month after he was crushed on a barge at Barangaroo, was working in “Third World conditions”, Labor Senator Doug Cameron says.
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He has called for a coronial inquest into Mr Macpherson’s death, after unions revealed they had been blocked access to the site and the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) issued the operators of the barge a prohibition notice 10 months before the March 1 tragedy as the vessel failed to meet safety standards.
Senator Cameron told Parliament there were “too many questions” surrounding the 32-year-old’s death, and said it was a tragedy that was “entirely avoidable”.
Mr Macpherson, who was a rigger, died after a heavy metal beam was knocked during a crane movement and came crashing down on top of him, inflicting critical injuries to his head and torso.
“This is a young hard-working family man struck down in the prime of his life in yet another construction fatality,” Senator Cameron said in a speech to Parliament. “A lovely young family has been torn apart as a result of a construction injury death that was entirely avoidable. This tragedy should never have happened.”
AMSA confirmed that the barge – which is owned by Queensland-based Brady Marine & Civil – had been issued a prohibition notice by Roads and Maritime Services inspectors in May last year after operating at Barangaroo without a certificate of survey, which “shows that a vessel … meets the standards for construction stability and safety equipment”.
“The prohibition notice was issued as soon as Roads and Maritime inspected the vessel on May 30 and found it was operating in NSW without the required certificate of survey,” an AMSA spokesman said.
However, the barge was granted a temporary exemption a month later in June while the certificate of survey was being processed. It obtained the certificate of survey in October. AMSA would not be drawn on whether it deemed the vessel unsafe at the time of Mr Macpherson’s death, but said: “Roads and Maritime, as an AMSA delegate, is investigating whether there were breaches of regulations relating to the operation and certification of the barge as a vessel.”
Senator Cameron questioned why it took AMSA four months to first inspect the vessel on its arrival from Queensland. “This is a massive operation in the middle of Sydney, and a barge that has operated in basically Third World conditions,” he told the Newcastle Herald. “There’s too many questions that need to be answered.”
Brady & Civil managing director Paul Brady did not respond to a request for comment.
The coroner is still investigating Mr Macpherson’s death.
