CFMEU state secretary Paul Ferreira said there were still safety issues onsite claiming orders had to be made for an occupational health and safety (OHS) representative to be trained.

A Pinetec spokesperson said there was an OHS co-ordinator and safety representative, as well as an active safety committee onsite.

“All staff are involved with safety,” they said.

The representative said safety was at the forefront of operations at Pinetec and there was a safety system in place which applied to both visitors and employees.

“The company achievements over the past 12 months has come on in leaps and bounds in terms of both the performance and safety systems,” they said.

“Safety is at the forefront of business activities.”

While Mr Ferreira said there were issues about untrained employees slinging loads without dogging and rigging tickets, the Pinetec spokesperson said this was not the case.

“There are certainly certified people onsite and we are currently training to have three times the required amount of people with dogging and rigging tickets,” they said.

Through a training agreement at Pinetec the high risk work is carried out by a company from Bunbury.

Mr Ferreira also said more effort needed to be made to employ local labour.

“Collie has one of the highest unemployment rates in the South West and say they have issues with getting local labour,” he said.

The Pinetec spokesperson said the majority of workers were sourced locally with advertisements for jobs being advertised in the Collie Mail as recently as two weeks ago.

They said through an employment agreement, 45 people needed to be employed and there were currently 65 to 70 employees.

Mr Ferreira said an onsite visit to the company a month ago revealed the room where a worker lost a hand two years ago was not locked as was required, and said Pinetec needed to “buck up” their safety practices.

However according to the Pinetec spokesperson, the room was unlocked because a maintenance check was being carried out and a procedure was being followed.

They said the Pinetec project supplied residue into Verve and was to date the largest biomass project in Western Australia.

“It makes coal more viable and sustainable and helps to meet emissions targets,” they said.

“There was a 1.5 million expansion recently and lots has been happening… that’s why jobs continue to grow and will continue to grow in the future.”