Man dies after being crushed by turbine blade at Australia’s biggest wind project

A worker has died after being crushed by a turbine blade at Australia’s biggest wind project, the Golden Plains wind farm in Victoria, with emergency services called to the site at Rokewood just after 8am on Monday.

Police confirmed the man was working at the wind farm on Bells Road when he was crushed beneath a “fan blade” shortly after 8am. First responders attempted to revive the man, but he was declared dead at the scene.

“The man was working at a wind farm on Bells Road when he was crushed beneath a fan blade shortly after 8am,” a police statement said.

“First responders attempted to revive the man, but he was declared deceased at the scene. WorkSafe will investigate the incident.”

Vestas ANZ country head Danny Nielsen said Vestas is devastated for the worker’s family and the entire team building the wind farm.

”With workplace safety as our number one priority, the site has been closed and we are working closely with the authorities, including the Police and Worksafe Victoria, to investigate what happened and work with the project partners to take steps to prevent it recurring in the future,” he said in a prepared statement.

Neilson declined to comment further on the cause of the accident, given the investigation currently underway.

Vestas is the main contractor and turbine supplier.

The incident was caused by a pin that hadn’t been properly inserted in one of the the scaffolding towers holding up the blade, alleges Australian Workers Union (AWU lead construction organiser Joel Archer.

“The blade was suspended on some stands. One of the pins in one of stands was missing, it hadn’t been knocked in correctly. A worker had got in underneath to knock the pin it and the stand came down on the worker,” Archer told Renew Economy.

Archer questioned why the stand was not safe in the first place, and why proper safety protocols weren’t followed when the problem was first identified.

“Obviously there was a pin incorrectly, or not in the right place. What should have happened is the load should have suspended to a point where it could not fail. It should have been lifted with a crane and then safely held.”

Aerial images taken by news organisations show a blade lying over crushed scaffolding, and a crane set up next to three blades lying on the ground next to each other in preparation of being installed on the adjacent turbines.

The individual blades are 79 metres long and weigh 22.7 tons, and part of the V162/6.2MW turbines that supplier and main contractor Vestas is installing.

Not the first incident

The incident is the latest – and by far the most serious – involving turbines at the 1.33 gigawatt (GW) wind farm, which is majority owned by Portugal-based TagEnergy.  

In September, small blade parts fell from turbines at the 756 megawatt (MW) stage one ‘East’ section of the project.

No injuries or damage to property were reported from that incident, but locals and workers were advised to wear protective head gear if they approached the affected turbines. Work and production was suspended while the turbine blades were inspected.

The Danish company is installing blades that use a sawtooth design to improve airflow over the wind turbine blades and reduce the noise they make when spinning. The blades have serrated trailing edges made from flexible plastic.

AWU Victoria is livid that recent warnings from delegates were not heeded.

“Just two weeks ago, union delegates from three different unions met with Vestas management to raise serious safety concerns, telling them it was only dumb luck that nobody had been killed on site yet,” said AWU Victoria state secretary Ronnie Hayden in a statement.

“We fought hard for industrial manslaughter laws, but they’re gathering dust while bodies pile up. This isn’t just negligence anymore – it’s criminal, and it’s time we started treating it that way.”

The union says project delays have put rising pressure on workers at Golden Plains. It accuses Vestas of creating “a concerning pattern” of inadequate supervision with non-unionised subcontractors, which led to gaps in safety protocols.

The latest incident comes as construction is underway on the final 577 MW stage of the $4 billion project. Stage 1 has already started injecting power into the grid from the turbines that have already been completed and commissioned, and the first stage is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2025, with Stage 2 to follow in mid-2027.

Vestas is struggling with a number of issues from defective wind turbines, and is facing a hefty increase in warranty costs, which rose to 6 per cent of revenue in the third quarter, according to the company’s latest accounts released last week.

TagEnergy and Vestas are expected to issue a statement to the media and hold a press conference at the site later today. Renew Economy will update the story as more information comes to hand.