Worker crushed under tonnes of steel: [2 Edition 1]
Jeremy Roberts, John Stapleton. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 20 Sep 2002: 4.
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Abstract
A MAN died after 200 tonnes of steel girders crashed on to a demolition team when a building on a derelict BHP site at Newcastle collapsed yesterday.
The close-knit demolition team were working on a cherry picker at the side of the multi-storey building just before midday when it collapsed. The building was part of a salt-water treatment plant next to a blast furnace for BHP‘s defunct steel-making operations.
Twisted metal: Rescue workers and emergency services officials work at the site of the Newcastle BHP building collapsePicture: Jeremy Piper; Photo: Photo
Full Text
A MAN died after 200 tonnes of steel girders crashed on to a demolition team when a building on a derelict BHP site at Newcastle collapsed yesterday.
Miraculously, the other four members of the team managed to crawl to safety. Last night rescuers using heavy lifting equipment retrieved the the body of the33-year-old demolition worker who had been pinned under the rubble.
Police had not released the name of the dead man. A worker at another demolition company said the dead man had been well known in the area and his death was a great shock.
A structural engineer at the scene said the quantity of rubble and steel beams made it hard to reach the body.
Waratah Police Superintendent Lee Shearer described the two- storey-high pile of equipment, rusted steel and corrugated iron as “like an old Mad Max movie”.
The now desolate site had been the scene of several bad industrial accidents over the years.
The close-knit demolition team were working on a cherry picker at the side of the multi-storey building just before midday when it collapsed. The building was part of a salt-water treatment plant next to a blast furnace for BHP‘s defunct steel-making operations.
Two of the survivors were uninjured. The other two, a 38-year- old man from Killcare on the NSW Central Coast and a 58-year-old man from Cranebrook in Sydney’s west, were treated at John Hunter Hospital for facial injuries before being released.
Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union Newcastle spokesman Bob Cochrane said the method of demolition used, known as an “induced drop”, was “very dangerous”.
NSW police, Workcover and the Australian Workers Union are launching investigations into the collapse.
Illustration
Caption: Twisted metal: Rescue workers and emergency services officials work at the site of the Newcastle BHP building collapsePicture: Jeremy Piper; Photo: Photo