14.07.2010

Crane fatality at Port of Melbourne

A man in his early 40s died this morning after he was hit in the head by a load that fell from a crane at a dock in the Port of Melbourne.

The load, reportedly a steel beam weighing over 2.5 tonnes, fell from a crane at Appleton docks striking the dock worker in the head and killing him outright.

WorkSafe is conducting an investigation into what is the 13th workplace fatality in the state of Victoria this year, the fifth caused by a falling object!

WorkSafe's manufacturing and logistics director Ross Pilkington issued a brief statement in which he said: "Every year, WorkSafe attends a number of very serious incidents involving cranes, they are large machines which can have horrific consequences if something goes wrong.''