Wrong Queue, Right Job!

Written by: Melissa Limb
Featuring: Brian McDonnell

Brian McDonnell was recruited 28 years ago from Melbourne to work at Comalco as a Tradesman.He came about his job rather by accident. He had applied for a job that he saw advertised in the paper, and when he showed up for his interview, there were two queues. 
He lined up and then noticed a shorter line so he decided to swap lines. He didn’t realised that that line was for a different job and he ended up getting a job at Comalco which turned out to be a right decision!

When he first started working with Comalco, there were over 1000 people employed within the Company. Back then, one man would do one job, unlike today where a job at Comalco involves a vast variety of responsibilities and tasks.

Because each employee was only allowed to do one job, the rest of the workforce had to wait for others to complete their tasks so they could get on with their job; Brian remembers how they used to play cricket games to fill in spare time. They also used to have push bikes and they would have races. Sometimes, employees would sleep on their shift as they had to work 8-hour days for 7 days in a row, then they would get 2 days off work. No-one used to care if they went to sleep while on their shift, but they would have a phone beside them just in case they were wanted. These days this doesn’t happen, work hours are different.

Brian is aware of the many changes that have occurred over the past 2 decades. Back in his day, it was acceptable that people would get hurt on the job, whereas today it is not acceptable and they believe they are doing as much as they can to prevent accidents. Half the hazardous environments that existed are now gone. Furnaces in the old days never had hoods on them, but now all the furnaces are covered, there is now more focus on personal protective equipment – clothing, hats, glasses, respiratory, ear muffs, etc. Brian believes that the workplace is about 200-300% cleaner than 28 years ago. Use of safety equipment was voluntary, but now it is compulsory.

Nowadays, Comalco employs around 540 people which is only about half the amount of people they had back when Brian was first working with Comalco. One job these days involves many more tasks and covers a wider range of jobs than it used to. However, the main reason for the reduced number of employees is the technology changes over the years. Things that used to be done by hand, like breaking blocks are now one by machines.

Brian claims that the favourite part of his work is the interaction with people. He enjoys working with the people at Comalco as people within the Comalco community look after each other; there is no rivalry between the Departments, everyone gets along. Brian has enjoyed his memorable 28 years of working with Comalco and hopes to continue to do so!