Serious injuries on ACT construction sites have risen for the second year in a row on a per capita basis, two years after a major report into site safety called for a reduction of 35 per cent.
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In 2012-13, Canberra's construction workers suffered serious injuries at a rate of 31.5 people per 1000 population, easily the highest rate of any state or territory in Australia.
When the Getting Home Safely report into workplace safety was originally released in 2012, there were 24.5 serious incidents per 1000 residents.
At the time the report called for a 35 per cent reduction in injuries on ACT construction sites within three years.
CFMEU ACT secretary Dean Hall described the new figures as a "bloody disgrace" and said it was only a matter of time until someone lost their life on a construction site.
"It's just pure luck there isn't more people being killed. What we are seeing is reports of some serious near misses but also some very nasty accidents," he said.
"Anyone who sends their loved ones into the construction industry on a daily basis, you'd be deeply concerned because unfortunately it's only a matter of time."
Mr Hall said he placed the blame for the poor figures squarely at the feet of the ACT Master Builders Association and the employers, who he said hadn't taken the recommendations of the Getting Home Safely report seriously.
"We are having lives destroyed by serious workplace accidents. What you're getting is people [suffering] serious disabilities, sending them into relationship breakdowns, alcohol and drug abuse – you're seeing whole families being destroyed," he said.
ACT work safety commissioner Mark McCabe said while the figures would have an 18-month lag on them, they were still alarmingly high and there was a lot of room for improvement.
"The employers need to acknowledge that it's not a good outcome for the ACT... There are companies that do good things and a small number have started to change, but a lot need to translate talk into action," he said.
"WorkSafe is still finding very poor cases of quite alarming non-compliance more than we'd like to be finding and sometimes from quite substantial companies."
He said the government had done a lot to help prevent serious injuries, including putting extra resources into WorkSafe and improving their procurement processes.
Master Builders Association deputy executive director Jerry Howard said he was alarmed by the rise in serious injuries, as he believed safety on ACT sites had improved since the report.
He said construction was an inherently risky industry which they were trying to make safer.
"If the stats are factual I am disappointed because I would say that there has been a dramatic improvement in the industry since the release of the report ... I've been out on the sites and I've seen the level of compliance there," he said.
The new statistics were provided in an update to the Legislative Assembly on the implementation of the Getting Home Safely report by Workplace Safety and Industrial Relations Minister Mick Gentleman.
Mr Gentleman said the rise in injuries had occurred before the implementation of the 28 recommendations from the Getting Home Safely report had taken effect.
He said he anticipated a reduction in workplace injuries on construction sites in the next report.
"WorkSafe ACT is working with industry stakeholders to drive change and has enhanced both its educational and enforcement activity with regard to the construction industry," he said.
"The Government takes the safety of workers within the ACT seriously and wants no member of the community to fail to return home from work."
