Shaun McBride died after a scaffold he was working on collapsed at an Iron Ore jetty in Dampier Western Australia on Saturday.
The man, Shaun McBride, 28, was employed by Celtic Scaffolding to carrying out maintenance work on the East Intercourse Island jetty near Dampier. No one saw the accident, colleagues heard the scaffold give way and fall in to the sea, leaving just a hard hat floating on the water. His body was recovered later that day.
All operations at the Rio Tinto Iron owned facility was stopped while an investigation was carried out by the police and Mines department along with a Rio Tinto investigation team.
Sam Walsh, Rio Tinto’s chief executive Iron Ore and Australia, said: “I offer my sincere condolences to family, friends and team mates. We are ensuring that appropriate counselling services are available.
“We seek to achieve a zero harm workplace across our operations, and this tragedy is a terrible reminder that we can never be too careful, that we can never place too high a priority on ensuring a safe workplace.”
“Rio Tinto has not experienced a fatality at its Pilbara operations since August 2003, but this incident highlights the fact that there is never any room for complacency in the effort to ensure a completely safe workplace.”
McBride had only arrived back in the country from Ireland six weeks ago, after gaining his four year work permit, he comes from Burtonport, Co Donegal.