Police and the NSW work safety authority have been called to intervene in an escalating dispute between Lend Lease and the construction union on the eve of the royal commission into governance and corruption in trade unions.
The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union has reported and photographed what it says are more than 40 breaches of occupational health and safety standards at the site of the Chau Chak Wing building at the University of Technology, Sydney. The new building was designed by Frank Gehry.
Lend Lease contends the union has breached right-of-entry provisions, and on Thursday it lodged an application with the Fair Work Commission to deal with the alleged breaches.
The dispute has flared since the union launched a safety audit on Lend Lease building sites across the country this week.
Lend Lease chief executive Steve McCann has branded the union a "disgrace", accusing it of using the safety issue as a distraction from the royal commission, which is due to start this month.
The CFMEU's national secretary, Dave Noonan, hit back on Thursday, challenging Mr McCann to "get out of his ivory tower and go and have a look at the poor safety on the UTS site".
"Mr McCann may consider the fact that the union demands safe construction sites as disgraceful," he said. "But we consider their performance on safety at the UTS site to be an absolute disgrace and it is clear from the photographic evidence that they are breaching numerous occupational health and safety standards on that job."
Mr Noonan said the union was in discussions with NSW WorkCover, which had advised the union it had legitimate rights to represent its members on safety at the UTS site.
He said the national safety audit had produced a "mixed bag" of results and had given a clear bill of health to many Lend Lease building sites in Victoria. But he said the UTS site was riddled with safety problems including failures in evacuation plans.
A spokesman for NSW Police said police had been called to the site on Wednesday and Thursday. He said the law allowed the union on the site to carry out safety inspections.
"We were called to negotiate informally [on the right of access]," the spokesman said.
A Lend Lease spokeswoman said the company would address any genuine safety concerns.
"The report provided to [Fairfax Media] from the CFMEU has no legal status, does not comply with the relevant notice provisions set out in the Work Health and Safety Act and is essentially union propaganda.
"Only WorkCover, the independent umpire, can make official findings about safe or unsafe conditions/practices.
"WorkCover inspectors visited the UTS construction site recently and did not identify any non-conformances.
"The CFMEU have repeatedly trespassed on the UTS site without a valid right of entry, having made baseless safety allegations."
The Victorian Supreme Court slapped the union with record fines and criminal convictions this week over its involvement in blockades of Grocon building sites in 2012.
