Ausgrid accused of choosing profit over safety amid daily worker injury alerts

Ausgrid staff are facing injury or near miss incidents almost every working day, with calls sounding to return the company to the control of the state government.

Ausgrid has had two workers die on the job in the last two years. Picture: Kelly Barnes

Electricity giant Ausgrid has had one worker injured and ­another suffer a near-miss on almost every working day of last year, prompting calls for the NSW government to take back control of the state’s privatised poles and wires.

Ausgrid has had two workers die on the job in the last two years but said the reports of injuries and near misses were down to improved reporting and bee stings.

Figures obtained by The Daily Telegraph show two fatalities in the last two years, 222 injuries last year and 221 near misses.

Greens energy spokeswoman Abigail Boyd said the injuries and near misses last year were “very concerning”, and underscored fears that had been passed on to her from workers.

“If you cut back on expert safety instructors then you are putting the safety of workers at risk,” she said.

Ausgrid has had one worker injured and ­another suffer a near-miss on almost every working day of last year. Picture: Facebook

The Daily Telegraph in September revealed Ausgrid was more than halving the number of connection inspectors after an internal report by bean counters CutlerMertz found it could save $500,000 a year in maintenance costs if it was prepared to pay a permanently injured worker $28,000 in compensation.

“I don’t understand how Ausgrid can think these injury figures are acceptable,” she said.

“I would actively agitate for the state to take back control of Ausgrid.”

The NSW Government retains a 49.6 per cent stake in the company that was privatised in 2016.

Last year it increased profit by 74 per cent to $546 million and paid its executive leadership team a whopping $15 million.

Australia Institute researcher David Richardson said the company had consistently underspent on maintenance by at least $100 million a year.

“The private sector can often buy well-maintained public assets without having to do much by way of maintenance for at least a decade before problems appear,” he said.

“In that time some of the equipment may become unsafe or prone to sudden failure. Ausgrid’s accident record may have followed such a pattern.”

Electrical Trades Union NSW branch organiser Tara Koot said a “significant reduction in proactive maintenance across the network” was contributing to safety issues.

“Ausgrid’s injury and near-miss statistics are nothing short of appalling - the kind of numbers you see when a company is choosing to cut costs, instead of listening to the concerns of the workforce,” she said.

“Frontline workers have been left to carry the entire load. They’re expected to keep the network reliable and safe yet are being pushed to expand their role responsibilities when Ausgrid won’t invest in proper systems or staffing.

There have been calls for the NSW government to take back control of the state’s privatised poles and wires. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“Workers tell us they’re stressed, exhausted and scared, because reacting to network faults has replaced proper proactive maintenance on an ageing network,” Ms Koot said.

A NSW Government spokeswoman said it was “very difficult” to bring assets such as Ausgrid back into public hands once they had been privatised.

“Every worker deserves to come home safely, and every workplace death is a tragedy,” she said.

“The NSW Government is committed to working with the regulator to keep private companies accountable and continuously improve safety.”

Ausgrid chief safety officer Matthew Sweeting said improved reporting regimes for everything from a bee sting or splinter to a more serious injury requiring medical treatment had pushed up the reported number of injuries and near misses.

“After a continued effort to increase safety messaging in our training and onboarding, it is a positive sign to see reporting levels are increasing,” he said.

He said around one tenth of the reported incidents were serious enough to warrant a day off work.

Many of the others were minor such as bee stings.

“One reason you get bee stings is because they wear high (visibility) clothes,” he explained.

“Safety is the number one priority in everything we do at Ausgrid,” Mr Sweeting said.

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Originally published as Ausgrid accused of choosing profit over safety amid daily worker injury alerts