Union says worker safety ‘optional’ as Labor dodges promise

A union representing nightshift workers has savaged the government for its apparent lack of action on workplace safety. Read why they’re so mad.

The union representing a service station employee who lost an eye when a stick was thrown during a store rampage has accused the NT government of breaking a promise to make workplaces safer.

Shop Distributors Association secretary Josh Peak said the government had broken a promise made after the death of bottleshop worker Declan Laverty in March to do safety audits at late night retail outlets.

Chief Minister Natasha Fyles announced the audit three days after Mr Laverty’s March 19 death.

SDA Secretary Josh Peak. Photo by Kelly Barnes

“The NT government will undertake an audit of late night retail outlets across the Northern Territory,” Ms Fyles said at the time.

The audit, she said, “would provide advice on how business security can be improved through a range of mechanisms including crime reduction through environmental design”.

Seven months on, the SDA said Ms Fyles had broken the promise and wants action, not lip-service.

Asked whether there had been an audit, a government spokesperon told this masthead it had “been rolling out” the Business Security and Safety audit program to assist businesses “access an independent assessment and evaluation of their security and staff safety”.

The Caltex at Malak where an employee lost an eye. Picture: Pema Tamang Pakhrin

So far, 35 out of potentially hundreds of late night NT businesses have been audited.

The spokesperson said businesses could choose from seven registered auditors and had until end-of-financial year to access the program.

Mr Peak said the government’s response was “manifestly inadequate” and it signalled to essential workers their safety was optional.

He demanded government immediately fix the issue.

“Offering one-off voluntary self-assessments to a handful of business is manifestly inadequate and is not an audit,” Mr Peak said.

“Physical measures such as security screens, secondary exists, panic rooms and duress alarms are the best measures employers can take to keep their workers safe.

“A properly conducted compulsory audit is what is necessary to ensure that workers in exposed locations are adequately protected.

“Workers will continue to be at risk until a wide-ranging, compulsory audit of high-risk workplaces is undertaken.

“Retail work is as dangerous as it has ever been. The government needs to act now to ensure the safety of our essential workers.”

Adelaide-based company On The Road, which owns the Malak service station, said “the wellbeing of all our team member (sic) is our primary concern”, but declined to say what measures it would take to keep its team members safe.