A teacher has died after falling through a skylight of a primary school in Melbourne’s west while attempting to retrieve balls from a roof.
WorkSafe Victoria said they believe the 61-year-old man, who has been identified as Paul Hogan, was retrieving balls from the roof of St Margaret Mary’s Spotswood when he fell more than three metres to the concrete ground below at about 2.30pm on Thursday.
He was taken to hospital with critical head injuries and died on Friday.
Dr Edward Simons, the executive director of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, said the “community was deeply saddened at tragic news of the passing of our colleague, friend, retired principal, and relief teacher, Paul Hogan”.
Simons described Hogan as a highly regarded educator and leader in the Catholic school system across his 36-year career.
Hogan began his teaching career in 1988, working across a number of schools in Melbourne’s north and west.
He became principal at Our Lady of Mount Carmel school, Sunbury, in 2009, before becoming principal at St Mary’s in Ascot Vale in 2016.
After his retirement in 2022, Hogan continued working as a part-time and casual relief teacher at St Anne’s Sunbury, St Mary’s Ascot Vale and St Margaret Mary’s Spotswood.
Simons said: “We extend our sincere condolences to Paul’s family, friends and colleagues, and we hold all of those impacted in our hearts and prayers.”
“Paul was a friend and mentor to many in our MACS community and he will be dearly missed,” he said.
WorkSafe is investigating the death, which it said was the 23rd confirmed workplace fatality for 2024. There were 41 work-related deaths at the same time last year.
