An inquest into a worker’s death in 2013 will look at whether the victim was doing hazardous work without adequate safety.

Forty-five-year-old Richard Carl Barker died at the Bis Industries yard in George Town, Tasmania, in April 2013.

Mr Barker was standing under a decommissioned hopper while cutting the bolts that connected the hopper’s wing to the machine with an acetylene torch, according to testimony at the Magistrates Court in Launceston this week.

The wing fell on Mr Barker, causing fatal head injuries.

The inquest will examine claims that Bis Industries directed workers not to perform scrapping in the yard at a site meeting the day before Mr Barker's death.

That decision may have been made after an earlier incident in which a different worker undertook scrapping at height without a safety harness.

Counsel assisting the coroner Marica Duvnjak said the inquest would also examine any risk assessments and management plans in place when Mr Barker started scrapping the hopper.

Police and ambulance officers, the managers and owners of Bis Industries and workers at the site are all expected to front the hearing.