Safework inspectors offered bribes and intimidated while inspecting workplaces, ICAC hearing told
THE Corruption watchdog has heard that Safework SA inspectors were offered bribes and intimidated by business owners during solo inspections of work sites.
SOLO Safework SA inspectors were offered bribes or intimidated by company owners seeking to make them overlook safety breaches, an ICAC hearing has been told.
Ex-SA Safework official Rodney John Murray told Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander, QC, he had “experienced efforts to influence (his) decisions” while working for Safework SA between 1999 and 2001.
“When initial contact was made at a workplace then, often an inspector would be attending alone, which is definitely not best practice,” Mr Murray said.
Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Bruce Lander, who opened an evaluation after receiving complaints and reports about the agency, heard that Mr Murray had been offered bribes on “five or six” different occasions.
He had also felt intimidated on three or four occasions.
“There was certainly one case that I tended where one of the persons in the room at that time stared at me fixedly to obviously … try to unsettle me in my job and also possibly to influence any decision that I was about to make.”
In a previous hearing, Mr Lander heard that Safework inspectors were at considerable risk of corruption and bribery because of their “near unfettered power”
The evaluation of Safework SA will continue on Thursday with MFS Chief Officer Greg Crossman appearing before Commissioner Lander.
Safework SA investigators have been accused of lacking transparency and accountability in previous submissions before the commission.