A large piece of scaffolding has fallen at a construction site in Sydney's CBD, crushing the back of a van, and narrowly missing the driver who was still in it. The incident occurred in front of a metro rail station that was supposed to be opened last weekend.
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00:00Investigations are commencing here in Sydney's CBD into an incident this morning involving
00:08a piece of scaffolding falling onto a vehicle.
00:12You might be able to see behind me what appears to be part of a platform on the ground, significantly
00:21damaged, and a van, an Australia Post vehicle, just completely destroyed from the back by
00:29that incident.
00:30Now, police have told us that around 9.30 this morning they were called to this site.
00:34After reports of debris on a vehicle, they arrived to find that piece of scaffolding
00:38on top of the van.
00:40While the van looks completely destroyed from behind, luckily from the front, the driver's
00:45compartment is relatively untouched, and the driver, a man in his 50s, was assessed by
00:51paramedics this morning and deemed to not require any further treatment, so luckily
00:56walked away without any significant physical injuries from that incident.
01:01It was also right in the middle of Sydney's CBD, just at the tail end of peak hour, so
01:09there would have been a lot of traffic coming through this spot at that time, meaning it's
01:13extremely lucky that no one was injured in that incident.
01:17When we arrived earlier, there were a large number of construction workers, tradespeople,
01:22people in high-vis, milling around outside the exclusion zone.
01:27Some of them were being interviewed by police.
01:29They were all told to go home for the day as those investigations commence now.
01:36This incident occurred just in front of one of the construction sites connected to the
01:41Pitt Street or Gadigal station for the Sydney Metro rail line that was supposed to actually
01:47open last weekend.
01:49That Chatswood to Sydenham connection was supposed to open.
01:54That opening was delayed due to safety concerns, issues with electrical approvals and incidents
01:59there.
02:00It's not clear exactly what has gone on to cause this incident.
02:06There's a large new building that's been constructed on top of this part of the station and a crane
02:12attached to that, so it looks at this point that this piece of platform was being moved
02:18by that crane.
02:19Another similar piece was dangling after the incident and was lowered to the ground behind
02:25the van, but it's not clear exactly what caused the platform to fall and what implications
02:33that could have for the Sydney Metro West opening.