Insulation scheme's rush caused deaths

Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes and Mitchell Sweeney. Source: Herald Sun

KEVIN Rudd's rush to save the nation from the Global Financial Crisis directly led to the accidental deaths of three young Queenslanders.

Queensland State coroner Michael Barnes yesterday delivered a tragic reminder of the first Rudd government's worst policy mistake - the botched $2.7 billion Home Insulation Program.

Mr Barnes blamed a desperate Rudd government, sloppy state agencies and careless bosses for the electrocutions of Reuben Barnes, 16, Mitchell Sweeney, 22, and Matthew Fuller, 25.

In NSW Marcus Wilson, 19, died on his first day on the job after suffering heat stroke.

Rudd's first stint as prime minister came back to haunt him yesterday in the coroner's scathing assessment of the scheme, where the three young Queensland labourers died from dangers that "should have been foreseen" in the botched rollout.

"The risk of physical danger, damage to property and fraud should have been obvious - all eventuated," Mr Barnes found.

Matthew Fuller, Rueben Barnes and Mitchell Sweeney were electrocuted just months apart while installing insulation in Queensland homes under the scheme.

Mr Barnes found the men had been failed by their employers, state safety authorities and a flawed federal government program.

MATTHEW Fuller was inexperienced and inadequately trained when he was electrocuted installing insulation under the Rudd government's pink batts scheme.

He referred one employer to the Director of Public Prosecutions for a possible perjury charge, and others to the Justice Department for breaches of workplace safety rules.

The referrals came separately from legal action against the employers, Titan Insulations, Arrow Property Maintenance and Queensland Homes Insulation, which saw each company fined more than $100,000 for electrical safety breaches.

Mr Barnes said Queensland safety regulation authorities had failed to react with "sufficient urgency or decisiveness" to information that should have alerted them to an increased risk of death or injury in home insulation activity from the program.

But he said it was the speed with which the program was "conceived, designed and implemented" by the Federal Government that resulted in a failure to put adequate safeguards in place.

The program was announced in February 2009 to help stimulate the economy in response to the global recession, for implementation by July that same year. "The dangers should have been foreseen and mitigated before three people died in Queensland and another in New South Wales," Mr Barnes concluded.

Family members say they hope the findings will prevent fatal mistakes in future government programs.

Key recommendations as a result of Mr Barnes's findings include a public safety campaign on the dangers of electric shock; decisive action by the state government on mandatory requirements for electrical safety switches; and a review into the response by state-based agencies into the home insulation deaths.

Rueben Barnes, 16, was electrocuted while installing insulation batts.

More than one million homes were insulated before the program was terminated in February 2010 due to safety concerns.

"Undoubtedly, a major contributor to the failure to put in place adequate safeguards was the speed with which the program was conceived, designed and implemented," Mr Barnes found.

"One witness with experience in such matters estimated that such a project would usually take two years to role out.

"Because a major focus of this program was the stimulation of the economy to counter the effects of the global financial crisis, it needed to proceed far more quickly than that, but not at the cost of human life."

Mr Fuller, 25, was electrocuted when he shot a metal staple into a live electrical cable on October 14, 2009; Rockhampton teenager Rueben Barnes, 16, was electrocuted installing fibreglass batts in November, 2009; and Cairns man Mitchell Sweeney, 22, died installing roof insulation in February, 2010, after starting at a new insulation company just a week earlier.

In NSW, 19-year-old insulator Marcus Wilson died on his first day on the job in November 2009 after suffering heat stroke while working in a roof in temperatures of more than 42C.

Mr Barnes, delivering his final findings before the end of term as state coroner, said at the peak of the program about 10,000 installers were registered and employed "many thousands of largely low-skilled workers".

It was originally intended everyone involved in the insulation program would undergo training, but "this position changed due to the time constraints", he said.

The program relied on the "honesty, integrity and competence of the registered installer" to act appropriately.

The safety focus in planning was on fire, not electrocution.

"The risk of workers being electrocuted was not given sufficient attention by those designing the program, despite it being raised by some industry representatives in various stakeholder consultations," Mr Barnes said.

Industry representatives who participated in planning meetings seemed preoccupied with "getting a slice of the pie" rather than maximising safety.

One company billed the Federal Government for $1.9 million for 1500 installations.

"In each case the employer should have recognised that roof spaces are inherently dangerous places to work and they should have had in place reliable systems to effectively manage that risk," Mr Barnes said.

"Three people died because that didn't happen with the three registered installers."

State Attorney-General Jarrod Bleijie said the men "lost their lives because of a chaotic, rushed and underdone" Federal Government policy, and blamed Mr Rudd.

"Kevin Rudd took ownership of the scheme under his first prime ministership, and the responsibility should lie with him," Mr Bleijie said.

"These tragedies were preventable. In April 2009, Queensland's Building Services Authority warned the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet about the risks but it never responded.

"It took Matthew's death to make it realise there was a problem. The former Queensland Labor Government also sat on its hands on this issue."

However the coroner also noted nothing had been done to address the failings of state safety agencies and recommended an Office of Fair and Safe Work Queensland review.

Mr Barnes said: "State-based workplace safety agencies failed to proactively respond to that increased risk and no review of why that occurred or how it will be avoided in future has been undertaken."

Mr Bleijie said he would consider the recommendations from the coroner, who heard oral evidence from 27 witnesses and received 770 statements and other exhibits.

Acting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Federal Government accepted the coroner's findings.

Asked if he would apologise for the deaths, he said: "Of course.

"Any tragedy is one too many. People should be able to go to work and come home safely."

"We've put in place systems in accordance with the recommendations that have been made and today's recommendations by the Queensland coroner we absolutely accept."

"If there are any further actions that the Queensland coroner suggests, we will implement those as well."

Mr Albanese said the federal government had supported the Coroner's inquiry and provided legal assistance to the families.

Energy Minister Gary Gray said he accepted the coroner's criticisms, but added that the federal government had to rely on state safety laws.

"In this case, the Commonwealth had limited powers to legislate for specific industry safety requirements and relied on state safety legislation. Commonwealth legislation would have duplicated State and Territory laws and there was no indication that the existing laws were inadequate to ensure worker safety," Mr Gray said.

"Because safety was a paramount concern of the Government, we continued to consult with industry and make the requirements of the program more and more stringent as the program progressed," he said.

Former environment minister Peter Garrett, who was stripped of his portfolio after the deaths, did not return phone calls.

Lawyer Aaron Anderson, for the family of Matthew Fuller, said they hoped the coroner's findings would prevent similar deaths in the future.

"My clients today are just wanting to make sure there are lessons learned going forward in any future scheme, whether it is at state or federal level," he said

"It doesn't have to have the same tragic consequences."

Lawyer Mark Williams, for the father of Rueben Barnes, Murray Barnes, said he wanted mechanisms in place to ensure no further deaths occurred.

Master Electricians Australia CEO Malcolm Richards said safety switches would have saved the lives of the three men.

"We 're also pleased that he has actually recommended now the state government go back and reassess their program, with a mind to implementing safety switches on all circuits," Mr Richards said.

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