Two dead in work-related incidents

A 44-year-old farmer died in a tractor incident in Yarrawonga last Tuesday and a 35-year-old man was electrocuted at Spotswood on 14 July, taking Victoria’s work-related death toll for the year to 10.

A couple of work-related incidences had also left a number of people with serious injuries, said Lisa Sturzenegger, WorkSafe General Manager for Operations. Incidents include one involving a 20-year-old man who suffered burns to his body in the same Spotswood incident and a 25-year-old man who suffered a punctured lung after a trench collapsed on him in Templestowe last Wednesday. “While investigations are at an early stage, these incidents are much more than a tragic reminder of the importance of workplace safety,” she said.

“To have two workplace deaths in one week is devastating and they are felt by not only the workplace but by family, friends and the wider community and last a lifetime. What people don’t always appreciate is that the incident that you manage to walk away from, the so-called ‘near-miss’ is very often the one that, in slightly different circumstances, might have killed you or left someone with a major life-long injury," she added. 

The number of workplace incidents WorkSafe dealt with in a week were way beyond what the community would hear about in the public domain, said Sturzenegger. “We urge businesses, no matter the setting, location or size, to stop and have a think about hazards in their workplace.”