The horrific workplace death of Federico Parazzoli has been labelled “entirely preventable” amid claims fatigue and a litany of serious safety failures may have contributed to the tragedy.
It can also be revealed the 28-year-old Italian national – who died on April 3 at precast concrete manufacturer Dallcon’s Dalwallinu site – only intended to spend six months in the job to satisfy a visa requirement.
The exact circumstances of Mr Parazzoli’s death have not yet been confirmed but The West Australian understands he was hit and crushed by a forklift carrying a heavy concrete block.
The fatality – one of two workplace death on the same day in WA – sparked a WorkSafe investigation that has already resulted in prohibition and improvement notices being issued to Dallcon.
A separate site visit by the CFMEU two days after the incident unearthed a raft of significant work health and safety breaches.
Non-compliance notices subsequently issued by the union noted the absence of delineated walkways and crossing points in the yard and “no signage visible to inform personnel to be cautious of heavy mobile plant”.
The union also discovered what it claims were unregistered and unroadworthy forklifts being operated to load trucks and move equipment with “no traffic management in place”.
There were also multiple examples of unsecured concrete panels – in some instances perched precariously on top of each other – and workers at height without harnesses, protective railings or proper ladders.
Analysis of Mr Parazzoli’s payslips found he averaged 65.3 hours per week in the two and a half months leading up to his death – which included 16 days in February in which temperatures topped 40C in the Wheatbelt town.
The union visit was sparked in part by multiple tip-offs from other Dallcon workers about safety hazards at the business, which bills itself as “Australia’s (number one) precast concrete manufacturer” and has supplied materials to Main Roads, BHP, FMG and Civmec.
CFMEU state secretary Mick Buchan said the union suspected fatigue “played a critical role” in Mr Parazzoli’s death.
“Yet again the industry has been rocked by another fatality that was entirely preventable, and should never have happened,” he said.
“For too long this company has flown under the radar, and unfortunately it has taken this tragic set of circumstances to call them out.
“Everyone needs to do better, not just in terms of basic compliance to industry standards, but to common sense.”
A Dallcon spokesperson said the Dalwallinu site had been extensively examined by WorkSafe and WA Police.
They said the CFMEU non-compliance notices were only received on Monday and that Dallcon would respond “after it has had an opportunity of considering them”.
“We will continue to work closely with (WorkSafe) and the coroner to aid their investigations into Mr Parazzoli’s death,” the spokesperson said.
“Dallcon will make no further comment on any of these issues, as they are currently the subject of open investigations.”
A family member told the CFMEU Mr Parazzoli had arrived in Australia at the start of 2023 and only intended to spend six months at Dallcon to satisfy a regional work requirement that would allow him to spend an additional year in the country.
After graduating high school in Italy, Mr Parazzoli spent seven years in the Italian army – including a six-month deployment to Lebanon as a United Nations peacekeeper.
He dreamed of becoming a chef and planned to enrol in culinary school in Australia. Mr Parazzoli also had a YouTube account on which he posted updates about this trip Down Under.
WorkSafe’s investigation into Mr Parazzoli’s death is ongoing.
A spokeswoman said WorkSafe had issued seven improvement notices to Dallcon in the year prior to the incident “for general workplace safety issues such as chemical management, housekeeping and use of equipment”.
Young father Frayza Ryan, 32, died in a separate workplace accident also on April 3 when he was crushed while in the basket of an aerial work platform at an O’Connor construction site managed by Sarich Building.
The pair of deaths come 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 lunchbreak.
