On Monday September 8, a worker was killed on the job in Bassendean, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia (WA). The 45-year-old man, who was married and had a 10-year-old daughter, died at the Hofmann Engineering factory after being crushed by a falling steel object.
Paramedics rushed to the scene, but were unable to save the man, who is the second worker killed at the plant in a little over six years.
Despite his age, the man was working as an apprentice mechanical fitter, having reportedly changed careers to spend more time with his wife and child. Previously, he worked as a chef. Originally from South Korea, the man relocated to Australia a decade ago and became a permanent resident in 2023.
Steve McCartney, state secretary of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU), told the West Australian, “it’s clear this tragedy was preventable.”
McCartney said, “This guy is a first year apprentice, it doesn’t matter if you’re 15 or 50. … He should’ve had someone observing him and working with him.
“He was wrapping a six-metre forging ring … on a sloping floor.” McCartney explained that this “big heavy piece of kit,” weighing around 3 tonnes, “swept off the trestles and crushed him.”
A spokesman for Hofmann Engineering denied McCartney’s claim that the inexperienced worker was not under proper oversight. He said, “all employees, including apprentices, are appropriately supervised.”
Earlier, the company had released a statement, declaring “The safety and wellbeing of our employees is our highest priority.”
Hofmann Engineering’s safety record, however, is not without blemish. Last November, the company was fined $567,000 and ordered to pay $28,685 in costs over the 2019 death of a worker at the same Bassendean factory. Hofmann Engineering pleaded guilty to “failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace.”
In the 2019 incident, the deceased man was working underneath the boom of a 1,350 kilogram (3,000 pound) welding manipulator, when it suddenly fell, crushing him.
An investigation by state safety regulator WorkSafe WA reported that “the machinery involved in this incident had not been adequately maintained and had also been sitting unused in storage for several years, exposing it to foreign materials such as dust.”
Investigators also found that “the threads on the nuts involved in holding up the boom were worn to such an extent that they were unable to maintain the load placed on them,” and that grease on the leadscrew was contaminated with dust.
Moreover, aside from cursory pre-start visual checks on the 40-year-old equipment, “ensuring the machine went up and down and that it was not making any unusual noises,” no inspections or scheduled maintenance by a qualified fitter had been carried out, and no logbook was kept.
The Bessandean death is far from an isolated event. A day earlier, a worker in his 40s was killed after being struck by a vehicle while working for Qantas at the Sydney International Freight Terminal.
On Monday, another worker was killed a short distance away at Menzies Aviation in Matraville. The 57-year-old truck driver suffered critical chest injuries after he was struck by a forklift and could not be saved by paramedics.
Hofmann Engineering, founded in 1969, designs and produces components for the defence sector, as well as the mining, transport, energy, manufacturing and agriculture industries. While headquartered in Bassendean, the company also has facilities across Australia, in Melbourne, Bendigo, Newcastle and Rockhampton, as well as locations in Canada, Chile, Peru, India and China.
On August 20, less than three weeks before the latest fatal incident, the WA and federal Labor governments jointly announced that Hofmann Engineering had been short-listed as a possible parts supplier for aircraft carriers being built for the US Navy.
State and federal ministers emphasised the significance of this as a first step towards Australian involvement in the construction of nuclear-powered submarines. The $368 billion submarine deal is part of the AUKUS agreement, the central purpose of which is to more thoroughly integrate Australia into US preparations for war against China.
At the press conference, Federal Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said, “to see the first company being requested to quote for the US supply chain is a tangible example of AUKUS in action. This is part of the $260 million initial investment by the Australian government to get Australian companies qualified to win work in the United States.”
Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles tours Hofmann Engineering [Photo: X/Richard Marles MP]
Richard Marles, federal minister for defence, declared: “We are acquiring the capability in this country right now to build, maintain and operate a nuclear-powered submarine, and this is a really important step along that path.”
Marles stated at the time that “the highest standards of safety are expected across our workplaces … and we work very closely with every company, including Hofmann, in relation to that.”
Following the Hofmann worker’s death, WA Premier Roger Cook said at a press conference, “It’s not the first time there has been an accident at this site, so that’s concerning, but WorkSafe will investigate and I’ll allow that investigation to take place.”
Asked by a reporter if he still had confidence in the company despite its safety record, Cook’s response revealed his real concerns and priorities, and those of the state and federal Labor governments: “Look, they have an exceptional record in terms of the work they are doing to integrate themselves into high value, advanced manufacturing supply chains.”
Cook’s answer reflects the callous outlook of capitalist production. After the press conference is over and the crocodile tears have dried, the death of one, two, or more, workers is merely a cost of doing business, of no more significance to big business or the governments that represent it than the meagre fines imposed on multinational corporations for taking a worker’s life.
WorkSafe WA is again investigating the latest fatality, a process that will likely be drawn out over many years. As the case of the 2019 death illustrates, its finding, even one that shows clear culpability on the part of the business, will likely result in nothing more than a token financial penalty, with no consequences for the company’s ongoing operations and profits, or the safety of workers that remain.
This is because WorkSafe WA, and its counterparts in every state are pro-business agencies. With the assistance of the union apparatus, they serve to hide the real root cause of unsafe working conditions and workplace fatalities—the capitalist profit system and the subordination of workers’ health and lives to the profit demands of big business.
The cynical character of the AMWU’s response is noteworthy. While McCartney has given numerous comments to the corporate press, the union has not said a word about the Bessandean worker’s death on its Facebook page. This is directed at concealing the tragedy from workers and suppressing the development of opposition to the grim and dangerous reality they confront under capitalism.
Moreover, the AMWU and the other industrial unions are vocal supporters of the expansion of Australia’s war economy, most prominently through AUKUS. Despite what the bureaucrats claim, this is not because the unions support “job creation,” but because they are thoroughly nationalist organisations, whose role is to defend the profit interests of so-called “Australian” capitalism.
To fight for workplace safety, workers need their own organisations, rank-and-file committees, led by workers themselves, not highly paid bureaucrats. Such committees could monitor and assess conditions within factories and other workplaces, formulate demands and enforce safety measures, including through strike action.
Above all, what is posed is the need to fight for a workers’ government that would implement socialist policies, including placing essential industries, along with the banks and major corporations, under public ownership and democratic workers’ control.
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