Man dies after steel sheet falls in shipping container

A team of WorkSafe Victoria inspectors and investigators is investigating an incident where a man died from crushing injuries while unloading a shipping container at a Melbourne metal fabrication business.

The man was working alone when a sheet of steel, which was to be made into the tipper mechanism of a tip track, fell on him. Workmates lifted the steel sheet from the injured man and attempted CPR until an ambulance arrived. He died later.

WorkSafe believes the steel was to have been lifted by crane out of the container. A number of others had already been removed.

The director of WorkSafe’s Manufacturing and Logistics Division, Ross Pilkington, said while the investigation was at an early stage, the possibility that loads could shift in transit had to be anticipated and prepared for before unloading: “If it can move, it can kill. The danger is magnified if the object and those working with it are in a confined space where there is less room to move.

“A safe system of work needs to be established even if a job has been done hundreds or even thousands of times before.”

In 2010, WorkSafe released new guidance on unpacking shipping containers and guidance on the safe loading of trucks. A statewide campaign was also recently launched, urging employers and workers to consider the potential outcomes of workplace safety incidents following 23 deaths at work last year. Two of those deaths were during loading or unloading operations.