A rare departure from a safety-conscious truck mechanic's normal practice cost him his life, a Tasmanian coroner has found.
The 32-year-old father-of-two was killed when a damaged tyre he was inflating exploded, causing significant blast injuries to his head and chest.
While "a very experienced and safety conscious mechanic", the man decided against using the available safety cage, coroner Robert Webster said on Thursday.
He also didn't use a regulator on the airline that could have controlled the extent of the pressure used to inflate the tyre.
The May 2020 blast occurred sometime after he arrived about 3.45am at Lindsay Transport's small site in Bracknell, south of Launceston.
But his body wasn't found until colleagues arrived at 6am, heard the compressor "going flat out" and discovered him partially lying on a jack.
The blast zone extended many metres, with a pocket of the man's shirt found embedded in a five-metre-high ceiling and his shirt collar was found on top of a high shelf.
"This case serves as a timely reminder that a failure to follow basic safety procedures, even by experienced and ordinarily safety conscious employees, can have tragic consequences," Mr Webster said.
It appeared the man had arrived early to work to secretly change a tyre and a rim on his truck, which he'd accidentally damaged.
Rather than tell his employer of the damage, he bought a new rim and set about placing the damaged tyre on it and then moving it to an inside wheel position.
The blast was caused by a combination of over-inflation and tyre fatigue, an expert concluded.
The earlier damage rendered it unrepairable and unroadworthy and it should have been taken out of service, the expert said.
Worksafe Tasmania investigated, however prosecutors decided in May 2022 no charges would be laid against Lindsay Transport or any person.
The coroner declined to make any recommendations.
