A former senior employee of construction giant Lendlease says the company routinely covers up safety issues on Sydney's Barangaroo building site, and does not report serious incidents to authorities.

Key points: A former Lendlease safety manager says the company's attitude to safety an "absolute disgrace"

A former Lendlease safety manager says the company's attitude to safety an "absolute disgrace" He says there is a culture of intimidation that prevents employees from speaking out

He says there is a culture of intimidation that prevents employees from speaking out Lendlease says all incidents were reported and safety is a top priority

The former environmental health and safety manager, who has asked not to be named for fear of losing his current job, called his former firm's attitude to safety an "absolute disgrace".

He said there was a culture of intimidation and bullying that prevented employees from speaking out for fear of losing their jobs.

"Not only to hide [worksite incidents] from the regulator, but to hide internally," the former employee said.

"To hide it internally means that the company's incident and injury statistics are kept as low as possible, which helps for future tenders."

He said the problem was not a one-off, but part of a company-wide culture.

"That sort of behaviour was driven from the very top of that project itself all the way down through to the guys at the ground level, even to the supervisors," he said.

"They were on many, many occasions instructed and bullied into submission, not to tell regulators, not to tell anyone else."

Data previously obtained by the ABC showed workplace incidents at Barangaroo were being reported at a rate several times that of other big construction sites in Sydney.

Between 2014 and June 2016, there were 123 reported incidents at the harbourside building site, compared to just 24 at the Darling Harbour Precinct and 25 on the Sydney Metro rail project over the same period.

But the former employee said those numbers were only the tip of the iceberg.

"On a number of occasions we were instructed by some of the most senior level people within that project itself to do our best to hide things, not report the little stuff," he said.

He said the unreported incidents ranged from the minor all the way up the scale.

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"On one occasion where we had one of the elevator gates come off its hinges and fall from level 32 all the way to ground floor during the night shift — that was never reported.

"We had another event where they used what's called a lift bag — it's basically a canvas bag that can hold a few hundred kilos of products.

"One of those bags failed as it was being lifted and roughly about 500 kilos of steel came raining down out of the bottom of that bag and all the way down to ground floor."

He said Lendlease management did not pay adequate attention to safety on the worksite.

"If I could describe it in one word, I would say disgraceful. Their attitude towards it is an absolute disgrace."

'It was swept under the carpet'

Construction giant Lendlease is the principal contractor for Barangaroo.

Over years, it has employed thousands of workers over the CBD site to build one of the most ambitious and controversial projects in the city's history, which is now nearing completion.

The project has faced criticism for plans to build a second Sydney casino by James Packer's Crown Resorts, among other things.

An artist impression of the Barangaroo foreshore with the Crown Casino and hotel. ( Supplied: Crown Sydney )

Fred Barbin, an organiser from the Electrical Trades Union and former delegate on the Barangaroo site, said there was strict protocol around worksite incidents.

Under law, all notifiable incidents must be reported to the state's construction regulator, SafeWork NSW.

"If it's a serious incident where somebody's life's at risk, you have to phone the regulator straight away," Mr Barbin said.

He echoed the former Lendlease employee's concerns around underreporting.

"There's was an incident where I didn't find out for three days later — I was delegate on site and nobody reported it.

"It was swept under the carpet. I heard about it at a party, that's how we found out."

He said workers were under pressure not to report incidents they see, even when safety was directly affected.

The former Lendlease employee said nothing had changed since he left the company.

"Clearly it is so deeply engrained and embedded in that company's culture that it'll never change — never, ever," he said.

In a statement, Lendlease said all incidents were reported and said safety was a top priority.

"We are committed to providing safe conditions for all people in our workplaces," the statement said.

"We work with all parties including our clients, unions, regulators and workers on safety matters. Stringent safety measures are in place at Barangaroo.

"All worksite incidents are reported to SafeWork NSW as required and undergo thorough investigation of the root cause, underlying factors and corrective actions, to facilitate improvements across the site and on other projects."