The penalty came just days after 18-year-old apprentice Christopher Cassaniti was killed on a Sydney site when scaffolding collapsed on top of him.

Christopher's tragic death highlights the need for better safety standards and regulation on building sites.

The penalty imposed on the CFMEU NSW Branch shows how the conservative Liberal Government has stacked the cards against the only organisation standing up for workers - the union.

CFMEU NSW secretary Darren Greenfield said there was a double standard at work under the current anti-union laws brought in by the Liberal Government.

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"When union members and delegates worried about safety on site stand up to bosses and decide to withdraw their labour we are hit with massive fines," Mr Greenfield said.

"Yet a worker can die on a site and the company involved gets little more than a slap on the wrist.

"This is why we need national industrial manslaughter laws to make company owners accountable for the shortcuts on safety they take that lead to deaths on building sites."

Safety standards exist for a reason and must be implemented. It's not something to address when you can get around to it, or when you have the time.

Yet under the Morrison Liberal Government, the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) turns a blind eye to the activities of big and small builders.

It never fines builders for safety breaches, for underpayments of workers or for failure to meet legal requirements such as superannuation.

In 2014, 23 workers were charged with fines of over $10,000 each for walking off the job over safety 12 months before.

Every worker has the right to return home from work each day. Under the current climate workers who stand up for safety are threatened.

It's time to change the rules.