Man dies in work accident at Vestas

On Thursday morning, a serious industrial accident occurred at Vestas’ site in Nakskov, Denmark. A male employee was killed, said Heidi Grandt Andresen, head of the South Zealand and Lolland-Falster police.

“We are dealing with a serious industrial accident at Vingevej in Nakskov,” she adds.

The police received the accident report at 8:50 a.m., and shortly after 10 a.m. the police department announced the man’s death.

The male worker in his 60s was crushed under an object and the Danish Working Environment Authority was called in to investigate the accident further.

Because the man is a foreigner, it was reportedly not possible to inform his relatives about the death as of Thursday morning. Police are working to do so.

“There is no danger to other employees,” the police wrote on the social network X.

Ritzau was unable to obtain any comment from Vestas regarding the accident on Thursday morning.

Vestas operates a rotor blade factory at Vingevej 1 in Nakskov on the island of Lolland. Regional media TV2 Øst reported in April that Vestas would expand the factory, where rotor blades for the world’s largest offshore wind turbine are cast.

Test sheets for the offshore wind turbine were also manufactured here, which, according to TV2 Øst, were 115.5 meters long.

This is by no means the first time that serious accidents have occurred at one of the Danish wind turbine manufacturer’s sites.

There have been at least three other serious work accidents in the last ten years.

In October 2015, a woman was caught between a frame and a wind turbine rotor blade weighing several tons that was being moved by a crane. She succumbed to her injuries.

In October 2017, a woman was hit in the head by a collapsed crane and was in critical condition.

In February 2022, a man was flown to hospital by helicopter after being hit in the shoulder by a 740-kilogram metal object.

(English translation by Christian Radich Hoffman)