By Shelby Brooks and Marcus Uhe
A 44-year-old “hard-working family man” and father of seven has tragically died in a workplace accident in Dandenong South Monday morning, 17 January.
Emergency services were called to a Fowler Road business just after 6.45am following reports a man had been crushed by a shipping container.
The victim was later identified as Kooweerup father Darren Lamb.
Mr Lamb was described by family and friends as a man whose world was centred around his family – wife Charlene and children, Jake 20, Jayde 16, Leyon 14, Nevada 7, Willow 5, Aspen 3 and Billie 1.
“They were his everything,” family friend Corrina Jagoe told the Star Journal.
“He spent every weekend with his kids and Charlene, whether it be just hanging out at home or going on day trips.
“Darren was the type of guy that everyone he met became a mate. He was a character as you can see by all the videos and tributes on his Facebook page.”
Mr Lamb and Charlene had been married for 22 years. The pair married in 2012 in a rooftop ceremony in Las Vegas.
“He had a wicked sense of humour which is shown on his wedding day when he said his vows to Charlene and they turned out to be the words to the theme song of home and away,” Ms Jagoe said.
“While in Vegas he got a tattoo of Charlene’s lips on his neck to ‘seal the marriage’.”
An avid Carlton supporter, Mr Lamb was also a huge advocate of Victorian Brotherhood which deals with male mental health and suicide awareness.
A GoFundMe was set up on Tuesday for the family by Ms Jagoe and which has since raised over $58,000.
“We wanted to set it up to take the immediate stress off the family,” she said.
“With seven kids we thought by taking the stress of money off Charlene that she could focus on her kids and being able to grieve for her husband.”
In a statement, Worksafe said it would be investigating the incident.
“It is understood a component of the forklift failed as the shipping container was being lifted at about 6.07am, causing the container to fall back onto the driver’s cabin,” a WorkSafe spokesperson said.
“The death is the second workplace fatality for 2022, two more than at the same time last year.”
