Construction workers at the Barangaroo development are outraged that it took up three hours to evacuate them after a bomb scare on Wednesday morning.
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Hundreds of workers were evacuated from the multibillion-dollar site when a bomb threat was phoned in to police.
"I'm fuming," said carpenter Tihema Miller.
"We should have been stopped from even entering the site at 7am."
Construction workers are shocked it took 3hrs after bomb threat to evacuate "I'm fuming"carpenter Tihema Miller pic.twitter.com/GxhVugBKIg — Eryk Bagshaw (@erykbagshaw) October 28, 2014
Police received the bomb threat at 6.45am on Wednesday, 15 minutes before the workers were due to enter the site.
Workers were not evacuated from the area until after 9am.
"That just proved that they don't give a shit about our safety," Mr Miller said.
A group of office fit-out workers in the main southern tower were similarily incensed.
"That's really f---ing wrong," said one who asked not be named.
"They should evacuate us as soon as they hear about the threat."
The CFMEU was quick to condemn the delayed response.
Barangaroo bomb threat called in at 6.45am and workers not evacuated till 9am??? Safety first Lend Lease? http://t.co/pxNya4DZUL — CFMEU National (@CFMEU_National) October 29, 2014
.@LendLeaseGroup statement says "as safety is priority we have taken precaution of evac"...Where does it say "3 hours later" #Barangaroo — CFMEU (@CFMEU_CG) October 29, 2014
CFMEU NSW secretary Brian Parker said the response time was a "concern" for the union.
"We will be working closely with the authorities and investigating it further."
A NSW Police spokeswoman said that Lend Lease was responsible for the evacuation of Barangaroo.
"Police were on site as soon as the call was received," Detective Inspector Mark Callanan said.
"Our responsibility is search and response. Evacuation is an issue for Barangaroo."
Police would not elaborate on what time Lend Lease was informed of the bomb threat.
NSW Police finished their search with the sniffer dogs after 3pm and no discoveries were made.
A return to work and business are expected on Thursday morning.
Construction workers were expected to remain away from the main southern tower at Barangaroo for up to seven hours after the threat, while the police bomb squad scoured the building.
Fairfax Media understands that an operation was simultaneously under way in Sydney's western suburbs in a bid to locate the person who called in the threat.
A Lend Lease spokeswoman said: "Given the detailed discussions that occurred with the NSW Police over the course of the morning, our view is that this evacuation was the right thing to do, and that it occurred in an appropriate, timely and safe manner."
Police bomb squad sniffer dogs currently in barangaroo tower. Workers only permitted to go back to 1/2 of the site pic.twitter.com/aSp3rimg22 — Eryk Bagshaw (@erykbagshaw) October 28, 2014