Work stops at MacIntyre Wind Farm after worker dies at Victorian worksite linked to project

Two subcontractors linked to a fatality at the Golden Plains Wind Farm in Victoria are also engaged in building the southern hemisphere’s largest wind farm in the Southern Downs.

Emergency services are at the scene of an industrial rescue operation in Rokewood, south of Ballarat, where a man is understood to have been injured by a wind turbine. Picture: 7News,

Construction workers have downed tools at the MacIntyre Wind Farm in response to a colleague’s death at the Golden Plains Wind Warm in Victoria.

A 36-year-old man died on Monday when he was crushed by a turbine blade.

He was employed by Professional Wind Services, a South Australian-based company that specialises in installing and maintaining wind turbines.

PWS, and the Danish heavy crane operator BMS, are the two subcontractors linked to the fatality.

They were contracted under Vestas Wind Services to build the Victorian wind farm, and are also contracted under Acciona to build the 162-turbine MacIntyre Wind Farm at Karara, southwest of Toowoomba.

PWS chief executive Kym Dodd said his team was still coming to terms with the loss of a colleague.

“He was such a nice person, he was always smiling, always happy,” he said.

Mr Dodd confirmed that work has stopped at MacIntyre Wind Farm while the company reviews processes.

A spokesman for Acciona also confirmed that work at the MacIntyre Wind Farm stopped as soon as the fatality occurred in Victoria.

The 923MW project is almost complete with only three of the 162 turbines still under construction.

When complete it will be the largest wind farm in the southern hemisphere.

The Herald Sun has reported that WorkSafe investigators understand one of a number of blades set to be lifted up onto a wind turbine became dislodged from a support platform at about 8am on Monday.

“WorkSafe investigators understand one of a number of blades set to be lifted up onto a wind turbine became dislodged from a support platform at about 8am on Monday,” a WorkSafe spokesman said.

Meanwhile the Australian Workers Union Victoria state secretary Ronnie Hayden slammed the project.

“Just two weeks ago, union delegates from three different unions met with Vesta’s management to raise serious safety concerns, telling them it was only dumb luck that nobody had been killed on site yet,” he told the Herald Sun.

BMS has been contacted for comment.

Originally published as Work stops at MacIntyre Wind Farm after worker dies at Victorian worksite linked to project