Rope slip a tragic accident

THE death of a Tassal worker who suffered head injuries after being hit by a rope off Bruny Island was an accident, a coroner has found.

Ian Graham Thompson, 45, of Surges Bay, died from injuries received while working on the vessel Efishent off Bruny Island on December 3, 2013.

The fish farmhand was the skipper of the vessel, which was moving lease boundary markers in calm conditions. After attending to three maker buoys without incident, the crew were hauling out a fourth with a capstan, when the rope suddenly slipped and hit Mr Thompson, one of the other men aboard the boat said.

“I looked at Ian. He was laying back,” he said. “His eyes were ‘jittering’ and the side of his head was caved in. His jaw appeared to be out of place.”

Mr Thompson was flown to the Royal Hobart Hospital but was pronounced dead. An autopsy determined he had suffered skull fractures and severe brain swelling.

Coroner Simon Cooper found that Mr Thompson was well-trained, experienced and competent, and that the equipment he was using was wellmaintained and without fault. No record of a similar incident could be found in Australia.

He said Tassal had done all it could to eliminate the risk surrounding the work Mr Thompson was engaged in.

“The evidence as a whole satisfies me that the death of Mr Thompson was a tragic accident,” he said. “I am satisfied that it was both unforeseen and unforeseeable.”

He did not make any recommendations.