United in grief, Australians sharing the indelible bond of their loved one going to work never to return are making a plea for change.
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Galvanised by collective heartbreak, they gathered at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday to anxiously await the release of a report into workplace deaths.
The Labor-chaired Senate committee recommended new nationally consistent industrial manslaughter laws using the Queensland legislation as a starting point.
Under that state's law, bosses found guilty can face up to 20 years' jail or $10 million in fines.
Christiana Paterson's partner Chris Patrick died in construction site in WA in 2014 after the young couple moved to Karratha.
"One day he went to work and he never came home," Ms Paterson said.
"My life was destroyed and his parents' life was destroyed."
While no less painful, the wounds are fresher for David Brownlee.
His son Jack died six months ago while working on a construction site in Ballarat.
"This was just something we read about," Mr Brownlee said.
"Until it smacks you in the face, you have got no idea the mountain of work you've got to go through."
Kay Catanzariti's crusade to change workplace laws was sparked by her son Ben dying on a Canberra construction site in 2012.
"All our loved ones should have come home from work," she said.
"We have nothing to gain from this. We've lost the greatest thing - a human life. We are here for the future and present workers of Australia."
The committee also recommended treating all investigations of workplace deaths as potential crime scenes, rather than accidents.
Included in the 34 recommendations, are a range of measures to help grieving families include better access to outreach programs, along with more money for counselling and mental health.
Labor senator and committee chair Gavin Marshall said Australia needed to change, noting 97 people had died at work this year.
"These workers and the thousands of workers killed before them did not go to war, they went to work," Senator Marshall told parliament.
Liberal senator Slade Brockman said the government agreed with many of the findings, but opposed Commonwealth industrial manslaughter laws.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions' have pushed for federal industrial manslaughter laws as a preventative measure for deaths at work.
"They're telling their story because they want to make sure this doesn't happen to any other family ever again," ACTU president Michele O'Neil said.
Australian Associated Press
