A Wollongong CBD building site was issued with six separate prohibition orders - including one relating to dust exposure - on Monday during a snap joint inspection the state's safety and building quality regulators.
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Executive Director of Compliance for NSW Customer Service Matt Press said it was not possible to reveal which site was given six orders or the street where it was located, they said there would now be investigations conducted by Safe Work NSW and NSW Fair Trading.
He said the orders related to uncontrolled cutting and dust exposure, the site's form work and poor void protection, as well as other issues.
"That was really poor and we'll be investigating them on the building safety side, but also the building quality - that had been referred to the Fair Trading team to see if that builder should still have their licence," Mr Press said.
"Hopefully the builder takes this as a strong message that things aren't right.
"We want them to not just fix it for tomorrow, but will be looking at what they can do in their governance and at a deeper level of control so it doesn't happen again."
He said the site slapped with six notices may end up being prosecuted by the regulators both for safety or on the builders licence, depending on the outcome of the investigation.
Mr Press said it was surprising to see poor performance from builders when it comes to dust exposure, given building unions have in recent weeks been campaigning for deadly silica dust to be banned as more workers are diagnosed with incurable lung disease and cancer.
"When we're talking about high risk projects, there's a real lack of discipline and a lack of pride in that work on the safety and quality side - we would all think that silica and dust exposure is a non-negotiable and that's what we're trying to work towards," Mr Press said.
"It should be something you can't walk past."
In a blitz between Austinmer and Kiama, with a big focus on the CBD, the inspection team will visit around 40 sites on Monday and Tuesday.
With this their third visit to the city in a year, Mr Press said Wollongong was being targeted because of the high level of construction activity currently underway.
"The work in Wollongong is particularly in the residential space, you can see here in the CBD it's just booming with apartments everywhere," Mr Press said.
"We're focusing on sites where our data tells us they are likely to be high risk, so that might be entities that are repeat offenders, have a poor compliance history, or complaints from contractors or even home owners, and we're also visiting some captains picks from our staff who live in the area and have a pretty good idea of where there might be some trouble brewing."
He said inspectors were particularly looking to reduce risks relating to falls from heights and uncontrolled cutting, as well as electrical work, moving large equipment and structural safety.
"We've trying to get the safety regulator and the building quality regulator come together more often, because we find a strong link between those projects that are poor on safety and also poor on building quality," he said.
"We want people to be confident they can work here and come home at the end of each shift, but also for the purchasers - young families or whoever it might be - to know they're not going to get the next dud because they bought in Wollongong."
Two sites in Wollongong, Crownview Apartments on upper Crown Street and the other is the Wonder Apartments in Young Street, have prohibition orders from Fair Trading - which are made public, unlike those issued on Monday.
Mr Press said the sites were undergoing a "complete structural review" and would not get an occupation certificate until defects were addressed.
Mr Press said anyone could report poor practices on building sites to the regulators, which would investigate high risk sites.
Kate McIlwain
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
For more than a decade, I've helped the Illawarra Mercury set the news agenda across the region. Currently I'm the paper's health reporter - covering the stories of Illawarra workers and residents in the wake of a global pandemic and at a time where our health systems are stretched to the limit.
