Visy cardboard truck driver, 52, dies in tragic workplace accident at Gepps Cross depot of one of Australia’s biggest companies

An Adelaide man has died after his truck rolled back in a horrific workplace accident at one of Australia’s biggest companies, where he had been working only three weeks.

An Adelaide truck driver has died just three weeks into a job at one of Australia’s biggest companies, after he was crushed by his truck in a horror workplace accident.

Multiple official investigations have been launched after the married man, 52, of Craigmore, was killed instantly at Visy’s Gepps Cross depot in Adelaide’s north early on Wednesday.

Colleagues paid tribute to the “lovely” man, understood to have been a contract driver who started driving for the multinational company just three weeks ago.

“He wasn’t a bad bloke to chat to,” said one, who declined to be name.

“He had only just started a few weeks ago. It was a tragic accident. It was horrible. I feel so sorry for his family. It just happened out of nowhere.

“People started shouting and tried to help him but there wasn’t anything anyone could do.”

Emergency services at the scene of an industrial accident in Gepps Cross. The truck is parked behind the trailer. Picture: Andrew Hough

Police and SafeWork SA attended the Gepps Cross business. Picture: 7NEWS Adelaide

The alarm was raised at 6.21am after police said the man became “wedged” between the 20-tonne prime mover and its trailer filled with cardboard and paper during the company’s morning pick-up.

Police and emergency services rushed to the White Road depot but it is understood the man had already died at the scene before crews arrived.

His family, who were told of the accident shortly after, have been left devastated, friends said.

The truck was later inspected. Picture: Andrew Hough

Witnesses told of their horror after the northern-suburbs man tried to “save” his trailer as the 12-wheel company truck rolled backwards while he tried to connect it.

One said: “He was trying to hook up his trailer to the cabin. He’d only just started but he seemed like a nice man, a lovely family man. Everyone is in a state of shock.”

Western Districts CIB detectives are investigating how the truck moved.

“There are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the incident,” a police spokesman said.

A spokesman for SafeWork SA, which has also launched a separate investigation, said the truck driver, who was out of the cab at the time, was killed when his truck rolled backwards, trapping him between his and another vehicle.

The view from behind the truck. Picture: Andrew Hough

A number of SafeWork investigators and inspectors inspected the site and interviewed management and colleagues.

Officers took measurements and inspected the truck where it was parked in a large open carpark in the company’s depot, which provides paper and cardboard to scores of Adelaide businesses.

The company sent most of his shocked workers home for the day as bosses helped investigators.

“Our thoughts are with the man’s family, friends, and workmates at this sad time,” SafeWork SA executive director Martyn Campbell said.

‘This tragic event is a timely reminder for businesses and workers to remain vigilant to all workplace risks and ensure workplace risks are identified, eliminated, or controlled to a reasonably practicable level.”

SafeWork SA officials will liaise with detectives who will prepare a report for the state coroner.

A company spokesman refused to comment. He said the victim was an independent contractor.

It is owned by the Pratt family whose billionaire executive chairman Anthony Pratt is considered one of Australia’s richest men.