Man crushed after wrong button pushed
Laine Clark |
Staff desperately tried to shut down machinery but repeatedly pushed the wrong button before a 21-year-old man was crushed to death on a drill rig in Queensland’s southeast in 2013, a coroner has heard.
An inquest is set to be held after Gareth Leo Dodunski died from “catastrophic injuries” in an industrial accident when struck by equipment at the Surat basin rig near Roma on June 23, 2013.
A pre-inquest hearing into his death was held in Brisbane on Friday with Mr Dodunski’s parents, Phillip and Michelle, appearing by video link from New Zealand.
The inquest is expected to hear staff tried to turn off machinery when they realised Mr Dodunski and a co-worker were “in the danger zone” on the rig floor nine years ago.
The co-worker also tried to pull Mr Dodunski out of harm’s way but sadly did not react in time.
When staff realised that Mr Dodunski and the co-worker were in the hazardous zone, an incorrect button was pressed repeatedly on a touch screen to try to retract the machinery, counsel assisting Ben McMillan said in his opening statement.
“The … (machinery) continued to move forward, taking only seconds to hit Gareth and crush him against the drill pipe. He suffered catastrophic injuries.”
Mr McMillan said it took staff 10 minutes to successfully contact emergency services and an ambulance did not leave for the site until 20 minutes after the incident.
The inquest is expected to hear paramedics from rig lease holders Santos arrived 70 minutes following the accident.
Mr Dodunski was pronounced dead almost two hours after the incident.
“Emergency services did not receive adequate directions to the incident scene and encountered difficult access conditions,” Mr McMillan said.
“Given the severity of Gareth’s injuries and the remote location of the well site, there is an open question as to whether or not Gareth could have survived his injuries had help arrived sooner.”
Coroner Donald MacKenzie will explore the events leading up to the death, the site’s safety management systems, the accident’s subsequent investigations and what can be done to prevent future incidents.
The inquest is set to begin in September.
AAP
