Return to work at Marsden likely

Press, 2 July 1983, Page 2

Return to work at Marsden likely

PA Wellington Striking workers at the Marsden Point refinery expansion project are expected to return to work on Monday after a meeting of all parties in Whangarei yesterday, according to the construction consortium, JV2, last evening. Union delegates said they would recommend a return to work at a meeting outside the project gates at 7 a.m. on Monday, JV2 said. The Labour Department’s chief safety inspector, Mr Brian Aimey, told yesterday’s meeting that the expansion site was safe but that the department would monitor the site continu-

ously for two weeks, and then abandon the testing if no positive readings were found. The department said after the meeting that it would post an inspector on the site for an initial period of two weeks to relieve the peace of mind of the work-force. He would test at random locations and at the request of any worker. The 1700 construction workers at the site walked off the job on June 16, two days after four men were badly burnt in a flash fire. The fire occurred in an underground bunker control room which has its floor level below the level of the water-table.

The cause of the explosion was believed to be naphtha and “light tops” hydrocarbons which had leaked into the groundwater from the existing refinery which adjoins the construction site. At yesterday’s meeting the department made a requirement that daily testing be made in any excavation deeper than 2m. JV2 is also required to monitor groundwater levels over the site and test twice weekly for hydrocarbons in its test bores. JV2 and the unions agreed yesterday that they would establish a joint working party to review safety procedures.