BHP: Pilbara walkout

A miner at a Pilbara industrial site where a young father was crushed to death has claimed staff were "instructed" to return to work just hours after the tragedy.

The miner yesterday accused BHP Billiton of "ruthlessness" after employees were told to work their day shifts at the Finucane Island iron ore loading facility in Port Hedland.

The site had gone into lockdown only hours before, after a 27-year-old contractor employed by Melbourne-based conveyor-belt operator Fenner Dunlop was crushed to death by a crane that collapsed.

Workers were told they would have to work their 12-hour shifts starting at 6am despite the Port Hedland man's death shortly after midnight.

Many workers, who learnt of the fatality when they arrived at work and were confronted by a cordon, walked off the job in protest.

"We feel absolutely disgusted at what's happened," the man said.

"All our workers have said 'no, you can't go back to work, that's just wrong'."

BHP Billiton external affairs vice-president Ian Fletcher confirmed staff at Finucane Island were told to work their shifts.

He defended BHP's safety record, which included five deaths in the space of nine months in 2008 and 2009, saying yesterday's incident "was not a repetition" of previous fatalities.

Shadow mines minister Jon Ford said that the State Government would have "blood on its hands" if it continued to neglect basing permanent mine safety inspectors in the Pilbara.

Mr Ford said there was only one inspector based in the Pilbara compared with 14 in the Goldfields.