"WA Police confirm worker's death at South32's Worsley Alumina refinery", 14 March 2026

A 47-year-old man has died overnight at South32's Worsley Alumina refinery in Western Australia, prompting a safety investigation.

WA Police confirmed emergency services were called to the refinery near Collie, …

The man died at the scene, despite immediate first aid being carried out…

A South32 spokesperson confirmed the man, a contractor, had been fatally injured while working at the refinery.

The spokesperson expressed the company's sympathies and said South 32 was working with the contractor to provide support and counselling.

Non-essential work at the refinery has been paused.

"Work not critical to the safety and stability of the site has been temporarily suspended," he said.

"We are taking steps to understand what happened and assisting relevant authorities with their inquiries."

Worksafe confirmed it was investigating the death and was unable to comment further…

Union calls for full and transparent investigation

The Australian Manufacturing Workers' Union state secretary Steve McCartney expressed condolences to the man's family.

Mr McCartney said the union would also be looking into the circumstances surrounding the death.

"We will be investigating in the near future and making sure that it never happens again," he said.

The union said workplace fatalities always raised questions as to whether safety procedures were followed and enforced.

"[We will be] making sure, if there have been any mistakes, then those mistakes don't happen again," Mr McCartney said.

"The next step now is the union always represents their people, and we'll be investigating this issue."