WorkSafe expertise

WorkSafe expertise

There's a new chairperson at WorkSafe Australia (the National Occupational Health and Safety Commission). He is business executive Richard Warburton.

A recent issue of the commission's weekly staff bulletin provided a brief biography of the new chief, including his long and distinguished career with Du Pont. Since 1966, Warburton has worked for Du Pont in the USA, Thailand and Australia, rising to become chief executive officer and group managing director of Du Pont (Australia) Ltd.

The next week's staff bulletin provided some background information, from a Greenpeace publication, on the new chair's corporate employer. Du Pont, it noted "in the United States ... has the distinction of being that country's largest corporate polluter, chosen from a field of some very tough competitors".

The company, it said, "has exposed its workers and the public to neurotoxins, like tetraethyl lead, and carcinogens, like beta-nepthylamine and asbestos.

"Du Pont built and operated the notorious American Savannah River nuclear weapons plant, famous for 40 years of accidents involving radioactive material."

Another notable Du Pont distinction, the bulletin reported, is that it is "the world's largest manufacturer of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)" — the ozone-destroying chemicals.

Strangely, this information — which suggests that Warburton could have considerable expertise on questions of hazards in the workplace — did not enjoy a wide circulation. The staff bulletin containing it was withdrawn and pulped.

From GLW issue 51