SafeWork SA yesterday revealed it only began its investigation into how the father of two had inhaled diesel at the AdelaideAqua site, when he was in a coma.

The revelation came as:

WORKERS revealed accidents in the shaft to the tunnels under the ocean floor had left three workers with crippling injuries.

SAFEWORK SA said there had been 18 notifications of dangerous occurrences, three notified workplace injuries and two complaints from the site in the past 12 months.

GOVERNMENT safety inspectors reported conducting 90 worksite visits and had 172 "interactions" with desal work activities, including audits of safety systems, and issued 23 notices to correct unsafe work practices at the site.

THE family of Mr O'Neil said he spoke often of the dangers at work.

SafeWork SA was only told on December 17 that Mr O'Neil had been admitted to hospital as a result of the incident at Lonsdale on December 12.

The 31-year-old steel fixer never woke from his coma and died in hospital on February 15.

His girlfriend, Brooke Doran, yesterday told The Advertiser he was convinced someone would be hurt or killed because workers were pushed into meeting unrealistic deadlines building Adelaide's desalination plant.

Ms Doran is still not sure of the circumstances that led to the slow and painful death of her "one true love".

"He was always saying how dangerous it was," she said.

"I remember him coming home and saying one of the guys he was in charge of ended up injured after he fell in a hole where they were putting in the pipe.

"He said it was so unsafe - the job was rushed, it was too rushed and someone was going to get hurt."

Mr O'Neil's family believes his vehicle ran out of fuel when he was working at the Lonsdale site and he was forced to use a hose to siphon fuel from a generator so he could get to another part of the worksite.

A fellow worker reportedly found Mr O'Neil collapsed and saturated in diesel and called an ambulance.

A SafeWork SA investigation determined that the accident was outside normal work hours, did not occur as a result of a work activity and that the employer had relevant procedures in place.

Police have prepared a report for the Coroner.

A SafeWork SA spokeswoman last night said occupational health and safety regulations require notification of incidents where people are hospitalised "as soon as practicable" and there can be a penalty for breaching that regulation.

But SafeWork SA "would not be in a position now to prosecute the employer for that five-day delay because our investigation found that it was not a work-related accident", she said.

Mr O'Neil's death was among three that have been linked to the desal plant.

Brett Fritsch was killed on the Port Stanvac site on July 16 when he was hit by a beam.

A truck driver, working for contractor Boral, died in a roll-over on Lonsdale Highway on August 20, 2009.

Yesterday, a worker injured at the site said a number of serious injuries and near misses 50m underground in the shaft to the plant's tunnels had not been correctly reported and could have been avoided if correct safety procedures were followed.

At least four workers were admitted to hospital with serious injuries from three separate incidents in the shaft at the start of this year.

SafeWork SA has reports of three of those incidents, a spokesman said.

The injuries included:

A RIGGER suffered an acute knee rupture when he was knocked from his feet by a rush of water released from a valve in the pit.

A PIG coupling on a pressurised air hose from one of the $15 million boring machines digging tunnels under the ocean floor shattered the shoulder of a worker when it burst free. A second worker received head injuries in the accident.

A WORKER at the bottom of the shaft fell off the grated floor and broke some ribs.

A WORKER broke ribs and suffered liver damage when "tipped" off a ladder.

The injured worker, who did not wish to be identified, said all the injured workers returned to the desal plant to continue to work but all had been assigned to light duties.

AdelaideAqua failed to answer questions put to it by The Advertiser yesterday in relation to mandatory reporting of serious incidents to SafeWork SA. The consortium did, however, issue a statement which said there had been "some incidents" between March and May but none was serious.

"AdelaideAqua thoroughly investigated the root cause of the incidents and implemented a number of corrective actions and revised work procedures including re-training of the crews to emphasise safety," it said.

source: www.adelaidenow.com.au