VIC: Esso worker hits out at maintenance cuts

AAP General News (Australia)
12-22-1998
VIC: Esso worker hits out at maintenance cuts

MELBOURNE, Dec 21 AAP - An Esso worker today hit out at his employer over cuts in
maintenance and the number of supervisors at the Longford gas plant in eastern Victoria before
September's fatal explosion.

Process technician Stephen Bennett told the Longford Royal Commission how despite an
agreement to maintain the number of shift supervisors, Esso had cut them from two to one.

"We protested, explained our position and Esso wouldn't budge, that's the way it was going
to be," Mr Bennett told the royal commission.

The Longford royal commission is investigating the circumstances surrounding the explosion
at the plant on September 25 which killed two workers and cut gas supplies to the rest of
Victoria for a fortnight.

Mr Bennett said the reduction in supervisors had a major effect on the workload of
employees, who could rarely gain access to the one supervisor on duty.

"We had to be a lot more involved with the maintenance workloads, jobs were slowed down
while we accessed a supervisor ... we weren't happy with the situation at all," he said.

"Previously supervisors had the time available to be able to actually get out into the
operations area itself, checking out equipment, checking out processes, highlight any problems
- they don't have that opportunity to a great extent currently."

Mr Bennett also criticised cutbacks in maintenance, which he said in recent years had been
"fairly noticeably reduced".

"The size of the plant and the equipment has gradually increased without maintenance
numbers being increased accordingly," he said.

He said maintenance had also slipped in the older Gas Plant One, which exploded on
September 25 and killed two people.

"It was very obvious stand-by pumps and other equipment, control systems etc, they haven't
been repaired as quickly as they would have been in the past," Mr Bennett said.

"Equipment is out of service for longer periods than I can recall in the past."

The commission hearing is continuing.

AAP ljm/ra

KEYWORD: GAS LEAD

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