"Young subcontractor killed by turbine on western Victorian wind farm,"

A worker killed when he was crushed by a wind turbine this morning has been identified as a young subcontractor from regional Victoria...

It's understood the turbine blade was being prepared for installation while still at ground level, when it fell and crushed the man, aged in his 30s...

Danish renewable energy giant Vestas, the turbine supplier, confirmed the incident and said the site would be closed.

"Vestas is devastated for the worker's family and the entire team building the wind farm and will be doing everything it can to support them during this terrible time," Vestas Australia boss Danny Nielson said...

The Australian Workers' Union (AWU) said it recently raised safety concerns with the company.

"This devastating loss could have been prevented," Victoria State Secretary Ronnie 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."

The AWU said it "consistently raised alarms about the mounting pressure on workers due to significant project delays".

The union also claimed Vestas made the move to engage non-unionised contractors for some of the most dangerous work on site.

"This is yet another worker killed on a Victorian worksite that demands answers," Hayden said.

"We need more than just investigations and reports, we need immediate action on site safety and stronger enforcement of regulations."

"This is not just another statistic, this is a worker who went to work and never came home."

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