SafeWork NSW warns workplaces after fatal truck strike and crush injury
21 Mar 2025•BlueSafe Team•Source: SafeWork NSW
SafeWork NSW has urged workplaces to review safety around mobile plant and vehicles after two serious incidents within five hours yesterday. A man died at a Greenacre recycling centre and another worker was seriously injured at an Auburn smash repair workshop.
A man in his 50s died after a truck struck him at the Greenacre recycling centre at 7.30pm. NSW Police attended, and SafeWork NSW inspectors were due on site today to begin investigating.
Earlier, at 3.50pm, a worker in his 40s was crushed between two cars at the Auburn workshop. He remains in hospital with serious injuries. SafeWork NSW attended and issued a Prohibition Notice requiring a safe system of work for working on vehicles.
The incidents come during a statewide targeted compliance operation focused on reducing workplace injuries involving mobile plant, fixed machinery and vehicles. Inspectors have issued more than 249 notices since the operation started last month. On one street in Prestons, 12 visits over three days resulted in 42 improvement notices and seven prohibition notices.
The operation is targeting separation between people and plant, access to moving parts, rollover prevention, and appropriate training and licensing. SafeWork NSW's website provides information about reducing these hazards, including the Code of practice – Managing the risks of plant in the workplace.
SafeWork NSW also provides advisory services and a $1,000 small business rebate to help purchase safety equipment. Businesses with fewer than 50 workers can arrange a workplace visit with an inspector to identify risks and discuss how to manage them. Workers concerned about workplace health and safety can contact SafeWork NSW on 13 10 50 or use the Speak Up app.
Head of SafeWork NSW Trent Curtin described the two incidents as tragic and expressed sympathy for the families, friends and colleagues affected. He called on people working with and around mobile plant, fixed machinery and vehicles to stop and review the safety systems they have in place.
Mr Curtin said identifying and assessing risks, then putting safe systems of work into practice, required particular attention to the operating environment, separation of workers and vehicles, and meaningful consultation with workers.
He said inspectors would educate workplaces about safe practices during visits, but would not accept workers' lives being put at risk and could issue on-the-spot fines for serious safety breaches. He also stressed that every worker deserves to return home safely and that no job is too important to be done safely.
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