Until Wednesday the Port Kembla steelworks had gone more than a decade without a death inside its gates.
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This week a diver with Southern Commercial Divers was killed on one of BlueScope's three berths when he was trapped between a ute and a crane.
It was during the same month 12 years ago that the steelworks experienced its last fatality.
On May 22, 2008, 39-year-old Setaleki Kolomaka was working on site as a subcontractor employed by Veolia Environmental Services.
Mr Kolomaka was at the 21 Dump recycling area using a high-pressure water lance to break up sediment at the bottom of a pit.
A colleague was about five metres behind him controlling the water flow via a foot-activated valve, nicknamed the "dead man's pedal".
The blaster sent out water at pressure strong enough to cut through wood or concrete.
Mr Kolomaka lost his grip on the water lance - which had no handles - and it flipped back, a jet of water hitting him and cutting into his chest.
He lapsed into unconsciousness; his colleague tried to revive Mr Kolomaka but he died of fatal injuries to his heart and lungs.
Mr Kolomaka lived in Woonona and left behind a wife and three children.
The death led unions to put a temporary statewide ban on its members using that style of high-pressure hose.
Four years later, at the inquest in June 2012, Deputy State Coroner Ian Guy found Mr Kolomaka's death was avoidable and not his fault.
Mr Guy put it down to a string of failures on the part of Veolia Environmental Services.
These included a lack of proper equipment - such as a lance with handles and the ability for the operator to turn off the water flow, as recommended by the Australian Safety Standard.
Mr Guy also said the company's supervisors were inadequately trained and there was also an absence of a risk assessment.