WorkSafe Victoria investigating after truck driver dies in Shepparton warehouse

Authorities are investigating after a transport worker died in a low-oxygenated cool room.

WorkSafe Victoria are investigating after a 50-year-old truck diver was found dead in the Goulburn Valley on Wednesday afternoon.

The man’s vehicle was found unattended with the engine running at a Shepparton warehouse at about 2.30pm, two hours after he had finished work.

The man was found dead in a low-oxygenated cool room being used to preserve apples.

It is the third workplace fatality in Victoria this year, compared to 11 deaths this time last year.

Of the three deaths this year, two have been agriculture-related after a 65-year-old farm worker died while moving cattle at a Yarrawonga South property earlier this month.

Statistics from WorkSafe Victoria last year showed despite agriculture making up only two per cent of the state’s workforce, about 14 per cent of all workplace deaths since 2018 have occurred in the industry.