By PAUL MILLAR
A GEELONG woman claims she was unfairly dismissed after raising concerns about asbestos removal and contamination at a housing development site in Fyansford.
Rodica Posogeanu has complained to the Fair Work Commission that South Geelong’s St Quentin Consulting employed her as an on-site superintendent at Gen Fyansford in November before sacking her in January.
Ms Posogeanu’s complaint said she became concerned within days of starting work when asbestos was detected in an area under excavation for the $300 million development.
Geelong Trades Hall secretary Tim Gooden has lodged a statement in support of Ms Posogeanu, saying he found the site unsupervised and open to the public when he visited on 20 November.
He questioned contractors about the location of asbestos buried on the former cement works site but they “did not know” and referred him to Ms Posogeanu.
Her complaint said St Quentin’s engineering manager was upset that she had spoken to Mr Gooden even though she denied contacting the trades hall boss about her concerns.
Ms Posogeanu said she continued expressing concern about work on the site, including dust levels and lack of signage warning the public.
But contractors complained her continued interventions to ensure site safety were slowing progress on the project, she said.
Ms Posogeanu’s complaint said she had seen a grader operating in an area suspected of containing asbestos. The operator was working without protective gear and had the grader’s door open.
“Dust was being created, uncontrolled, with no water cart to damp it down. Clearly correct safety procedures were not being followed,’’ she said in her complaint.
Ms Posogeanu alleged the engineering manager discriminated against her and that the main reason she was sacked was for raising “safety concerns around the remediation work at the Gen Fyansford project, in particular the identification and removal of asbestos and other contaminates”.
Ms Posogeanu disputed the company’s claim she had verbally resigned.
“All I said to them was that if I was wrong I would resign. You cannot imagine how I feel, as I was just doing my job,” she told the Independent.
St Quentin’s letter of termination to Ms Posogeana said she made ‘’inaccurate and unjustifiable” allegations against contractors, leading to “a complete breakdown in the working relationships necessary for smooth running of the Fyansford project”.
The letter said she breached her terms of employment when she distributed material that could harm the company’s reputation.
St Quentin refused to comment but said in a document responding to the allegations that all the safety issues raised had been addressed.
The case is due to go before the Fair Work Commission on March 16 for a confidential hearing.
Developer ICD Property has sold more than 70 properties at Gen Fyansford since its launch in September.
ICD Property managing director Michael Mai said suppliers continued to “work closely with all relevant authorities, such as WorkSafe and the EPA, to ensure that the site is safe and that any environmental concerns are quickly identified and rectified”.
“In addition, the site is subject to regular audits and assessment by four different expert consultancies,” Mr Mai said.
“ICD Property works closely with reputable project managers to ensure Gen Fyansford is developed on-time and to specification while ensuring minimal biodiversity impacts resulting from the new development, thereby preserving the current geographical profile of the landscape.”
