The Inpex project: A troubled history

THE Inpex Ichthys gas project at Bladin Point in Darwin Harbour has had a troubled history

• ANALYSIS: WHEN LIVES ARE MORE IMPORTANT THAN MILESTONES

• LAWYERS CALL FOR OVERHAUL OF WORKERS’ LAWS IN THE NT

• RELATED: INPEX WORKER ESCAPES INJURY AFTER RAILING GIVES WAY

THE Inpex Ichthys gas project at Bladin Point in Darwin Harbour has had a troubled history.

■ May 2012

Construction starts with 4.5 million tonnes of Mt Bundy rock delivered to Bladin Point. More than 100 trucks start the daily process. Road safety campaigns and community safety committees are formed to minimise the danger.

■ June 2013

Inpex says it is maximising worker safety despite admitting there may be unexploded bombs lying along the route of its gas pipeline.

■ May 2014

The first offices, administrations, warehouses and buildings are finished. JKC project director John Bramley says safety is his priority.

■ November 2014

Two men are hurt in a car crash at the Inpex site.

• MEMBER CONTENT: WORKER SPEAKS OUT ABOUT SITE SAFETY CONCERNS

• DEATH OF INPEX WORKER ROCKS WORKFORCE

■ February 2015

A 43m exhaust stack being lifted by two cranes is dropped. No one is injured.

■ September 2015

Unionist Paul Kirby, now an MLA, claims workers were pushed to the point of fatigue to make up for lost time and managers were “fudging” safety figures on the Inpex project.

■ February 2016

The reinforced concrete roofs of the cryogenic storage tanks are completed. The tanks are 47m tall with a volume of 165,000cu m, and hold the equivalent of 160 Olympic swimming pools.

■ March 2016

450 union members march on Mitchell St in a rally against a number of issues including safety.

■ March 2017

Two safety incidents in two days. An electrician is taken to hospital after a compressor hose breaks free and puncture s his leg and 11 workers are exposed to ammonia vapour. Unions immediately call for safety improvements.

■ October 2017

A Prado and two Buslink-Vivo buses collide on Channel Island Rd.

■ November 2017

An Inpex worker slips through scaffolding while working on one of the cryogenic tanks. His workmates are reported to have caught him. NT Worksafe is said to be investigating.