Call the CFMEU Legal Department on (03) 9341 3444
Under the award and our EBA, you should never and legally do not have to work in the rain. However, you must make the work area safe before you cease work. If a concrete pour has commenced prior to it raining, the pour can continue until finished, but all affected workers must be provided with wet weather gear and shall be paid double time until they have completed their work. They are then allowed to go home for the remainder of the day without any loss of pay.
If it rains at/before starting time and there are no covered walkways from the amenities to the workplace, workers do not have to go to work unless the rain stops or a covered walkway is provided.
Further information can be found in the Construction and General Award (Clause 23)
If you're still unsure, you can Contact Us
CFMEU EBAs state that workers will stop work and leave site when the temperature reaches 35 degrees. The temperature is measured at the nearest Bureau of Meteorology weather station to the work site.
A printable version of this heat policy which includes starategies for working in hot weather that's below the 35 degree cutoff can be found here.
While there is no set wind speed limit, all plant has Australian Standard stipulations/requirements for safe operating at particular wind speeds. Manufacturing requirements/limitations of safely operating plant at certain wind speeds should also be utilised. If in doubt – check with your OHS rep on site or Contact Us.
Well, there are a few different things you can do. If there is a Shop Steward or Health and Safety Rep who works on your site, you should let them know first. If not, then there are still lots of ways you can work this out. If you're a union member and there's nobody in your workplace that you feel comfortable reporting it to, you can submit an alert form <here> to our OHS department who will endeavour to get in touch with you and help you with the issue.
Worksafe are the Government regulator of OHS in Victoria, so you should definitely let them know that something isn't right. Too often companies get to tell us that "there were no issues before now" when something goes wrong, just because nobody had reported them to Worksafe - So it pays to be diligent. You can also alert the local council area that you're working within to the problem.