Union wants report on chemical spillage

Press, 21 May 1982, Page 4

Union wants report on chemical spillage

The Canterbury Railwaymen's Union is demanding a report on a chemical spillage at Middleton last Friday which' caused seven of its members to be overcomeby fumes.

Unless such a report was forthcoming, the union would not hold talks with the New Zealand Railways, said the Canterbury branch secretary, Mr B. T. Foley. Union members were very upset about the incident.

Mr Foley also called for a joint Union and Railways Corporation working party “to sit down and come up with something meaningful to eliminate all these problems.”

During the last two years there had been five or six unnecessary and - serious chemical spillages in Christchurch, said Mr Foley. In the latest, seven men were taken to hospital and one was admitted for observation. The man was discharged on Wednesday with, a ' medical clearance, but Mr Foley, said he had gone home sick again yesterday. In Wellington, the corporation’s deputy general manager, Mr G. Purdy, said a letter proposing a joint working party had been sent to the union’s national office. The corporation was also willing to let the union “sight” a report on the incident from the district traffic manager in Christchurch. In Christchurch Mr Foley took issue with remarks by the assistant district traffic manager of administration, Mr L. Newman, who had said the men would suffer no long-term effects from breathing the fumes.

“Where has Mr Newman got his medical credentials from?” asked Mr Foley. “I hope these men don’t suffer long-term effects, but how does Mr Newman know?” As a response to the latest spillage, the union imposed a ban, effective from 8 a.m. on Wednesday, on the loading of goods classified under the Dangerous Goods Act. This includes liquefied petroleum gas and compressed natural gas. The ban, which applies in Canterbury, does not include any materials for hospitals or jankers of oil, petrol, and locomotive diesel Mr Foley said he believed that the waggon involved in Friday’s incident was not marked with a dangerous goods sticker, or properly carded. Mr Foley said the Railways Corporation in Christ-

church had done a lot to educate workers in the.handling and storage of dangerous goods, the Canterbury union members were “sick and fed up” with receiving dangerous goods in a damaged state from other parts of the country. Mr Foley also took issue with comments by the district traffic manager in Christchurch, Mr R. Campbell, who had said that he had not been able to reach local union representatives. With the branch president, Mr J. Marr, Mr Foley said he had been in the goods manager’s office on Wednesday morning to give him a letter confirming the handling ban. “All Mr Campbell had to ,do if he wanted to get in touch with me was pick up the telephone. He would know in two minutes where I was,” said Mr Foley.