Gerry Hanssen — an aggressively anti-union Liberal Party member and construction boss — has been fined for blocking a safety inspection [$]. Only a week after a worker was killed by falling from height on a Hanssen project, the CFMEU was sent photos of the site that provided a “reasonable basis” for concerns about “open penetrations and unsecured covers over penetrations, as well as workers had not been provided with fall prevention equipment”, and they attempted to inspect the site. The judge found that Hanssen was “blinded by hatred” when he blocked a legitimate safety inspection: “The Court does regard the contraventions for the reasons already given as being of considerable seriousness and significance particularly given the fatality that occurred and that these steps of attempted entry were to assist in preventing any future or similar tragedy. [Hanssen] was blinded by his hatred of the [union] in preventing the taking of logical, rational and reasonable steps of entry and inspection that would have protected and assisted his employees.”
26 July 2019