Man dies in workplace accident in Perth’s south   

WA Today
September 13, 2023

A man in his 30s has died in a workplace accident in Perth’s south after being struck by a steel beam which fell onto him early on Wednesday morning.

Multiple St John Ambulance crews were called to the scene at steel manufacturing and engineering business Schenck Process in Jandakot at 7.45am Wednesday, but the man could not be saved.

Police and ambulance crews were on scene in Jandakot, after receiving a call around 8am.


WorkSafe Commissioner Darren Kavanagh said any work-related death was a tragedy, and relayed his sincere condolences to the worker’s family and co-workers.

Investigators will examine the circumstances of the incident by assessing the business’ compliance with workplace safety, aiming to prevent future incidents from occurring.

Police were also contacted around 8am. A police spokesman said the details of what had happened remained unclear.

WA Premier Roger Cook also acknowledged the incident on Wednesday afternoon.

“Another one of our workers has lost their lives on the worksite and let us all continue to commit ourselves to making sure that people can get home at the end of the day safely,” he said.

A state government report into work-related traumatic injury fatalities in WA between 2011 and 2021 found the most common cause was being hit by moving objects, accounting for more than 50-per-cent of deaths.

Out of 89 deaths in this category, 33 were caused by an object falling.

According to Safe Work Australia, there have been 104 workplace deaths across the country this year, as of August 31.

The Jandakot incident is believed to be the 15th workplace death in WA since July 2022. Most recently, a 16-year-old boy died at a sandblasting company in Welshpool on June 15.

CFMEU state secretary Mick Buchan said the death was “another reminder for the government, for WorkSafe, for employers and for employees, that enough is enough”.

“They need to reset the workplaces and invest more in safety, set up properly structured safety committees with representatives who give them proper union training to be able to implement policies and develop the best procedures possible to stop any more carnage in our workplaces,” he said.

An AAA Asphalt Surfaces worker died at Mineral Resources’ Onslow Iron project, also in mid-June, just a fortnight after the death of a rope access technician at Woodside’s North Rankin complex.

It also follows the death of Constable Anthony Woods, who was run down in Ascot while trying to make an arrest, and a crane operator who died at a construction site in Applecross, also in June.

Fortunately I’ve been spared having someone killed at work but have seen two nasty accidents.
But it can happen at any time and in unexpected ways; a friend was labouring at a building site in Sydney and they were pushing a tangle of reinforcing steel over the edge of the sixth floor, one of the office staff was passing and lent a hand and just as the steel started to go over the edge a piece went up his sleeve and he went over with it.