The employer of a young man killed in a workplace accident on the weekend has issued a statement saying it is "deeply saddened" by the tragedy and has launched its own investigation into how the incident happened.
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Concreter Ben Catanzariti was working at a Kingston Foreshore construction site on Saturday morning when he was struck by a 39m boom and died at the scene. Two other workers were injured, one badly.
Workers were using a truck-mounted concrete boom pump to pour concrete on the ground floor of the new Dockside apartment development on Eastlake Parade in Kingston when the pouring boom broke away from the truck and fell to the ground.
Belconnen Concrete operations manager Andrew Spinelli said he had met the families of the workers and the company had offered them its support.
"In conjunction with DOMA, Bloc and the CFMEU, Belconnen Concrete has organised counseling for all Belconnen Concrete staff," he said in the statement.
"Belconnen Concrete is proud of its strong safety record and is cooperating fully with Work Safe ACT and the Australian Federal Police. Belconnen Concrete has promptly provided all information and documents requested by these bodies in the course of their investigations. In addition, Belconnen Concrete is conducting its own investigation into the cause of the accident."
Mr Spinelli said the pump had been "comprehensively serviced" three weeks before the accident, and had only been used for 10 hours since then when the accident happened.
Mr Catanzariti moved to Canberra 18 months ago and had been employed by Belconnen Concrete for just four weeks when he died. His parents, Barney and Kay Catanzariti, said he was a hard-working young man and a talented sportsman with a passion for family.
It is the fourth workplace death in the past eight months – including three on civil and construction sites – and the ACT Government has indicated it will launch a wider investigation into safety on these sites.