The slabs fell off his trailer at the M1 motorway services at Tibshelf yesterday.
The 45-year-old, from Staffordshire, who has not yet been named, had parked his lorry on the northbound side of the motorway services and was walking around the vehicle when the 3.5 metre high slabs fell onto him.
Firefighters raced to the scene to try to release him and paramedics battled to save him but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
A joint investigation into the tragedy is being carried out by Derbyshire Police and the Health and Safety Executive.
A Derbyshire Police spokeswoman said the slabs, bound for a construction site, had been loaded onto a flat-bed trailer in an upright position and had been pulled along the motorway by a white Volvo tractor unit.
Officers investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident want to hear from anyone who saw the lorry as it travelled between Derby and Tibshelf and anyone who saw it parked up between 2.50pm and 3.35pm, when tragedy struck.