Gypsum industry news

Australia: The Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) has claimed that workers at Knauf’s Bundaberg wallboard plant have been bullied and intimidated over safety issues. The CFMEU has released information that claims that Workplace Health and Safety Queensland has hit the plant with eight safety improvement notices since it opened in late August 2017.

The CFMEU’s divisional branch assistant secretary Jade Ingham said said that workers had been greeted with a hostile response when they attempted to take their safety concerns higher. “These workers have been bullied and intimidated for raising concerns about the safety and wellbeing of them and their workmates,” she said. “To have a brand new state-of-the-art factory like this have eight safety improvement notices cast upon it in the first two months of being open is a disgrace.”

Knauf Plasterboard Operations Director Sean Wareham confirmed that the factory had received eight work improvement notices but that ‘none of the items found were deemed to warrant the issue of an infringement notice.’ He said that, throughout its commissioning, the company had maintained its goal to ensure that all factory, engineering, safety practices and legal compliance requirements were adhered to.
“WorkSafe Queensland was invited to attend the Bundaberg site yesterday and determined six of the eight improvement notices have been closed out,” he said. “Of the two remaining notices, one is complete, awaiting official close out, and the other is on track to be completed ahead of time.”
Wareham said as part of Knauf’s commitment to providing a safe place to work, the company actively encouraged employees to raise safety matters, took any improvement recommendations extremely seriously and continued to work closely with its employees and WorkSafe Queensland.

Australia: The Port of Bundaberg has received its first shipment of gypsum for the new Knauf Plasterboard wallboard plant that has been built there. The US$55m plant has recently been constructed at the port, according to Australian Government News. The port expects to receive a gypsum shipment every two to three months from now on. The wallboard plant is expected to officially open in August 2017.

Australia: The Gladstone Port Corporation has approved construction of a US$54m Knauf Plasterboard manufacturing plant at Bundaberg Port, Queensland to begin by the end of 2015. The project is anticipated to create up to 100 local jobs over the next 18 months, according to local media. The plant is due to be completed in January 2017.

Australia: Knauf Plasterboard is expected to announce that it will begin the construction phase of a new plant at the Bundaberg Port in south-east Queensland. Knauf Plasterboard currently manufactures and distributes plasterboard and accessories out of its Melbourne and Sydney plants.

In 2014, the company bought land from Gladstone Ports Corporation at the Bundaberg Port and is expected to start building a new plant in March 2015. Company spokesman Brian Tisher said that the new plant would create 200 jobs in the construction phase and 55 new positions when the project was complete in 2016. Tisher said that most of the products made would be sold in Queensland, but some would be exported. He added that building the facility in Bundaberg was an obvious choice, as a 26km gas pipeline was recently installed. The plant should be operational by September 2016.