News Item
Crushed to death
A MAN was killed on Sunday afternoon in an industrial accident on an oil drilling rig at Moomba, in the state's far-north.
The 36-year-old contract worker from Queensland was part of a drilling unit working at Santos's oil and gas fields about one hour east of Moomba, near the border between South Australia and Queensland.
A spokesman for SafeWork SA, which is responsible for administering occupational health, safety and welfare and industrial relations laws in SA, said the accident happened at about 10am (CDT) this morning.
"He was crushed between two pieces of equipment," the spokesman said.
"He was a contractor with a drilling unit."
A spokesman for Santos said "with great sadness" he could confirm a fatal incident had occurred on a drilling rig this morning.
He said it was under investigation and Santos would be assisting those investigations but could not currently give any further details.
A spokeswoman for the drilling company Weatherford Drilling International also refused to give any further details of the incident.
Police earlier said it occurred about an hour east of Moomba when a piece of machinery fell on the man.
Police, SafeWork SA representatives and a spokesman for Weatherford Drilling are currently travelling to the accident site.
The man's death is the first workplace death for the calendar year while figures from SafeWork SA show last financial year, there were six workplace deaths, compared to 18 for the previous financial year.
http://www.news.com.au/adelaidenow/story/0,22606,23116541-5006301,00.html?from=mostpop
