Vic: Construction workers to stop work for 24 hours

AAP General News (Australia)
08-02-2001
Vic: Construction workers to stop work for 24 hours

MELBOURNE, Aug 2 AAP - Thousands of construction workers will stop work tomorrow in
a show of respect for a man killed when he was crushed under a scissor lift in Melbourne
today.

The 42-year-old father of four, from Yarragon in the Latrobe Valley, was working about
10 metres above ground at Derrimut construction site when the accident happened.

A WorkCover spokeswoman said the man was fitting foam pads to form a refrigerated storeroom
when the scissor lift he was standing in toppled over about 9.25am.

WorkCover investigators were on the Swann Drive site within the hour.

It was not yet known whether a forklift in the area was involved in the accident, the
spokeswoman said.

The only witness to the incident was the driver of the forklift, who was too distressed to speak.

Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) representatives said sites
across Melbourne would close for 24 hours.

CFMEU spokesman John Loh said the stopwork would be followed by a full safety audit
on all work sites next week.

"It's in line with the policy of the construction unions that in the event of a fatality
on site, the industry stop work for 24 hours on the following day," Mr Loh said.

The death was the third workplace accident in Victoria this week.

A man was killed when a tree fell on him at a farm in Koondook yesterday, and a maintenance
fitter, 45-year-old Franjo Kupina, was crushed in a pneumatic door at a worksite in Footscray
on Monday.

AAP jmw/jlw/wjf/sb

KEYWORD: WORKMAN NIGHTLEAD

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