Sixteen young trade employees are dying at work per year in Australia, data has revealed, as safety concerns mount following the death of a teenage apprentice in Brisbane two weeks ago.
Key points:
- Between 2013 and 2022, 163 workers under the age of 25 died from a work-related traumatic injury
- Data from Safe Work Australia showed young workers were dying at sites at a rate of more than one per month
- Men made up almost 90 per cent of all the deaths, and a vehicle incident was the primary cause of death
Tyler Whitton, 17, died after he fell 4 metres at a West End site, in what was a horror fortnight on Queensland worksites.
In early October, a 55-year-old man died after a bulldozer rolled at a South Burnett construction site, while a surveyor died at Victoria Point in late September.
Data shows there has also been a significant uptick in injuries among young workers.
Between 2013 and 2022, 163 workers under the age of 25 died from a work-related traumatic injury.
Carpenter Mitch Opperman said apprentices often get used as cheap labour, which leads to injuries.
“Generally, as an apprentice you get pushed and move fast. You’re doing the labour work,” he said.
“The mentality around it is if you’re whingeing then you’re not going to make it or you’re weak-minded.”
The now 32-year-old Capalaba resident said he saw two incidents where apprentices were injured when he was in his early twenties that caused him to evaluate his working arrangements.
While working eight storeys up on a high-rise in Brisbane in 2013, a colleague had a piece of glass drop onto his shin, severing tendons and forcing him to have six months off work.
A year later, while working on a residential building, he was told to stand on two planks of wood suspended between two small ladders with four other apprentices.
“I told them, ‘stuff that’ and the planks ended up snapping in half while they were holding a whole sheet of glass and wood above them, and they fell in a pile on the floor and the sheet fell on them.”
The group sustained only minor injuries, but Mr Opperman said he refuses to work on residential work sites anymore because of safety concerns.
Data from Safe Work Australia showed young workers were dying at sites at a rate of more than one per month.
Of the 163 deaths of young workers, the majority occurred in the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry (24 per cent), the construction industry (24 per cent) and the transport, postal and warehousing industry (17 per cent).
Men made up almost 90 per cent of all the deaths, and a vehicle incident was the primary cause of death.
However, under 25s was the age group with the lowest number of fatalities, with 55 to 64-year-olds recording the greatest number of deaths (437) over the same period.
Construction Forestry Maritime Mining Energy Union (CFMEU) National Secretary Zach Smith said more needs to be done to protect workers.
“Each one of those deaths is preventable,” Mr Smith said.
A Safe Work Australia report released in July found over the five years to the 2020-2021 financial year, there were 11,490 serious workers compensation claims for apprentices and trainees.
“These are not insignificant injuries,” the report stated.
“Serious workers’ compensation claims are those that result in five or more days lost from work.”
Over the four years up to the 2020-2021 financial year, the number of serious claims for apprentices and trainees rose by 41 per cent to almost 2,500, despite the number of apprentices and trainees increasing by just 13 per cent.
Technicians and trades workers accounted for almost 90 per cent of these claims.
Mr Smith said regulators needed to clamp down on employers with poor safety records.
“That should be the primary focus of our state and territory regulators, they need to enforce safety and put worker’s lives front and centre.”
Mr Dearling said apprentices were under strict supervision when they stepped onto work sites.
“It’s not just here’s the hammer, here’s a nail, start hanging doors,” he said.
“It’s working under direct supervision and when everyone follows their obligations and complies, we really shouldn’t be seeing these sorts of tragedies.”
Mr Opperman said he thought the work culture had improved since he was an apprentice.
“Ten years ago it was like don’t even complain, just do what they tell you,” he said.
“Now I think it’s getting a bit more relaxed and there’s better work conditions.”
