Pictured: The young father crushed to death in Barangaroo accident
The man crushed to death at a Barangaroo worksite has been identified as a young father of one, with a second child on the way.
Timothy MacPherson, 32, died when a metal beam toppled onto him on a barge on Wednesday afternoon.
He leaves behind his pregnant wife Ashleigh and their 14-month-old boy Jack, just months before the arrival of their second child.
“It's heart-wrenching yeah, it’s just, you come to work to go home,” fellow worker Scott Davis said.
“For someone so young, and so lovely (shakes head), I really can’t believe it to be honest,” café worker Nicole Alchin added.
The Newcastle man died instantly when he was crushed, and it’s understood a second man only narrowly escaped being hit.
“We’ve got a grave concern about the work that was carried out, whether it was being carried out correctly,” State secretary of the CTMEU Brian Parker said.
Unions claim they tried to do a safety check of the site last year but were refused entry, with that claim not subject to a Safework investigation.
“There is something wrong with the laws that prevent our rights to access industries and workplaces of such a dangerous nature,” Maritime Union spokesperson Paul Keating said.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rejected claims government changes are to blame for Mr MacDonald’s death and sent his condolences to the 32-year-old’s family.
“Every industrial accident is a tragedy and our condolences go, our sympathies go to the family,” Mr Turnbull said.
