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4 February 2004
The Central Land Council says the Minister for Employment, Education and Training Sid Stirling should step in and ensure that NTWorksafe properly investigate the hydrochloric acid spillage on the Tanami Road in Central Australia.
CLC Director David Ross said today that given the slap-dash performance of NT Worksafe over the last spillage on the Tanami Road, he hoped the authority would act swiftly and responsibly to examine standards of transportation of toxic substances.
"There are two issues here - safety and environmental concerns - and quite frankly I don't feel very confident that the Government is concerned about either of them, Mr Ross said.
" NT Worksafe doesn't appear to have learnt anything at all from their botched attempt at investigating the large spill of cyanide several years ago. There continues to be a lack of substantive response from Government agencies.
"We recognise that this spillage is relatively small and that hydrochloric acid is not as dangerous as cyanide. However, many of the chemicals transported along Territory roads are lethal and accidental spillages have the potential to be devastating.
"The public should be able to have confidence that the regulation of the transport and carriage of the large amounts of highly toxic chemicals adheres to proper standards," he said.
Mr Ross said NTWorksafe should have been at the site immediately investigating the spillage and examining the procedures for containing the acid and all of the circumstances surrounding the incident.
"These accidents are serious enough to deserve the Minister's full attention," he said.
