Man crushed to death by falling fan blade at Australian wind farm

A worker was crushed by a fan blade at Australia’s largest wind farm in west of Melbourne, police said.

The accident happened on Monday morning in Victoria’s west at about 8am local time during the second stage of construction at the Golden Plains Wind Farm.

“First responders attempted to revive the man but he was declared deceased at the scene,” Victoria police said in a statement.

The Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) – is one of the country’s largest and oldest trade unions – raised concerns about allegedly unsafe working conditions due to pressure to complete the project, with specific worries about non-union contractors and “inadequate supervision”.

“This is not just another statistic, this is a worker who went to work and never came home,” AWU Victoria secretary, Ronnie Hayden, said.

There have reportedly been concerns over Vestas, the company overseeing the project at Golden Plains windfarm on Bells Road in Rokewood, engaging in “non-unionised contractors for some of the most dangerous work on-site”, according to Mr Hayden.

“This devastating loss could have been prevented,” Mr Hayden said.

“Just two weeks ago, union delegates from three different unions met with Vestas management to raise serious safety concerns, telling them it was only dumb luck that nobody had been killed on site yet,” he said.

The Golden Plains Wind Farm aims to produce nine per cent of Victoria’s energy and is expected to be completed by 2027.

Helicopter footage from Monday showed three turbines on the ground, with two seemingly supported by metal structures. The company reported that the subcontractor was killed while a blade was being prepared for installation.

WorkSafe Victoria, a statutory authority of the state government of Victoria, said fatalities investigators, technical experts, and renewable energy construction inspectors are currently at the scene.

Danny Nielsen, the country head of Vestas in Australia and New Zealand, expressed devastation over the worker’s death, offering support to his family and colleagues. He emphasised that workplace safety is the company’s top priority and announced the site’s closure.

“With workplace safety as our number one priority, the site has been closed and we are working closely with the authorities, including the police and Worksafe Victoria, to investigate what happened and work with the project partners to take steps to prevent it (from) recurring in the future,” he said in a statement.

Victoria’s premier, Jacinta Allan, said “any accident in any workplace is indeed a deep concern and a tragedy”.