Workplace deaths: Man killed while tree lopping near powerline as second worker dies in Donnybrook

A tree lopper has been fatally electrocuted, and a truck driver has died while picking up a skip bin in two separate workplace deaths in WA on Tuesday.

Emergency services were called to Lilian Road in Maida Vale about 1.30pm after a man was electrocuted while conducting tree lopping work near overhead high-voltage power lines.

Six St John WA crews attended the scene; however, the man could not be saved.

A probe involving electrical inspectors from the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety, and WorkSafe has now been launched.

Earlier, a 57-year-old man died while collecting a skip bin from the front yard of a home in Donnybrook about 8am.

Police and St John WA were called to Owen Street to reports of an unresponsive male.

“It was established a member of the public came across a man collapsed under a truck,” a police spokesman said.

“Tragically, the 57-year-old man could not be revived and died at the scene.

“It is believed the man had attended the residence in a truck to pick up a skip bin.”

The Donnybrook incident is also being treated as a workplace accident, and WorkSafe is investigating.

Police will also prepare a report for the coroner.

In a statement, WorkSafe Commissioner Sally North and Director of Energy Safety Saj Abdoolakhan both expressed their “sincere condolences to the workers’ families, friends and workmates”.

The deaths come as two men died in separate incidents within hours of each other in April.

Federico Parazzoli was killed when it is understood he was hit and crushed by a forklift carrying a heavy concrete block at concrete manufacturer Dallcon’s Dalwallinu site.

Young father Frayza Ryan, 32, died in a separate workplace accident on the same day when he was crushed while in the basket of an aerial work platform at an O’Connor construction site managed by Sarich Building.

Those men died just over a fortnight after Bayswater Station worker Fengwen Geng was killed when he was struck by a car while napping in a park on his lunch break.