Greaves, Colin Arthur

26y · Male·Multiple injuries sustained from a fall of 12 metres through an open hatch on Settler tank 6 at Queensland Alumina Limited plant

Colin Arthur Greaves, a 26-year-old casual hydroblaster, died after falling 12 metres through an unsecured hatch (Hatch A) on a Settler tank at Queensland Alumina Limited's Gladstone plant. The hatch should have been welded shut but had been illegally opened by grinding and chiselling. Greaves had worked 25-26 consecutive 12-hour shifts immediately prior to his death, contributing significantly to fatigue, inattention and loss of concentration. Critical control failures included: absence of hard barricades around the open void, no safety harnesses provided, minimal lighting at night, and inadequate fatigue management. The supervisor failed to enforce company safe hours of work policies, and there was normalisation of risk among workers regarding open hatches. Preventive measures would have included: properly securing hatches, mandatory hard barricades, harness restraints, improved lighting, robust fatigue monitoring systems, and appropriate supervisor training and oversight.