A worker at the Good George Frankton bar tried to arrive early for his morning shift after a night out.

A Hamilton bar worker's attempt to be early for work after a night out almost turned to tragedy when he woke within seconds of being crushed in the back of a compactor truck.

Good George director Darrel Hadley confirmed the man that was rescued from the back of a rubbish truck after being tipped in from a recycling cage outside the bar at 5am Tuesday was a worker at the Frankton bar.

After spending a late night out drinking in town and at a friend's house, Hadley said the part-time kitchen hand decided to head to the bar on Somerset St for his 8.30am shift.

"Rather than go home and risk missing his morning start time he decided to come to work early.

"With the premises locked up he made the foolish decision to have a sleep in the recycling bin on the neighbouring property."

Hadley said the bar had closed at 5pm on Monday for staff training and the gate entry to the premises was locked when the incident occurred in the service lane behind the bar.

"The employee had fronted rather sheepishly for work late this morning and was sent home - the team decided he looked like he needed a decent sleep and a shower."

He was asleep on the cardboard in the cage when the recycling truck came to collect, picking up the cage and tipping it's contents, and him, 2.5metres into the enclosed steel truck.

As the driver went to pull away he heard banging and yelling, but he couldn't figure out what was going on, Hamilton fire brigade station officer Steve McSweeney said.

The driver slammed on the emergency brakes and climbed to the top of the truck to find a man among the cardboard below.

A few seconds later and the compactor would have crushed the hapless fellow, McSweeney said.

"He was very, very lucky," McSweeney said. "He was standing in the bottom and a few seconds later the compactor would have come down, pushing the cardboard to make more room in the truck."

Fire crews were initially called to what was reported as a truck crash on Somerset St at 5am, but they arrived to find a driver looking down at a man trapped in the truck.

Fire crews fed a short extension ladder into the truck to the man, who climbed out of the truck unaided.

McSweeney said the fact he had landed on cardboard, as opposed to other rubbish, helped soften the blow.

He was looking rather embarrassed but uninjured, McSweeney said.

"I think the only thing that was hurt was his pride."

Hadley was yet to speak to the worker about the incident but was not looking to take any employment action.

"While I admire his forward thinking and commitment to fronting at work I think his choice of bedding leaves a lot to be desired."

Hadley said he was just relieved the driver had showed such quick thinking and stopped what could have been a tragic incident.

"It didn't actually happen at work - the shock of the experience would probably be lesson enough for anyone."

Envirowaste managing director Gary Saunders commended the truck driver on his fast thinking and was confident the situation was handled professionally.

WorkSafe said the close shave was a timely reminder to recycling companies to consider processes, where possible, to prevent people accessing the bins or for the bins to be checked for sleeping bodies before loading.

"It is also a good reminder to all that recycling bins are not a good place to sleep it off. WorkSafe is not investigating this further at this point in time."