TWU IN NEW CALL FOR CLEANAWAY CRASH PROBE REOPENING

The management revelations engulfing waste handling and transport firm Cleanaway have put a cloud over its safety culture.

Led by the Australian Financial Review, mainstream media reports focusing on CEO Vik Bansal have elicited an “independent investigation” and a stern public warning from the company’s board on any “unacceptable conduct and an acknowledgement of the “feedback” from Bansal.

The board says it has implemented a range of measures including executive leadership mentoring, enhanced reporting, and monitoring of the CEO’s conduct.

Despite a huge improvement in injury reduction, the conduct so far has reported led to a culture of fear that hindered bad news being passed up the management chain, experienced managers leaving, pressure on truck drivers to perform other duties when vehicles were awaiting maintenance and cost-cutting impinging on upgrades to its fleet of 4,000 waste vehicles and garbage trucks.

The issues have caught the attention of the Transport Workers’ Union (TWU), which reiterates its call for South Australia’s SafeWork SA to reopen its investigation on fatal crash on Adelaide’s South Easter Freeway.