The families of two men who died in a Delacombe trench collapse have welcomed a guilty plea but say their heartache will "never change."
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Construction company Pipecon yesterday admitted it did not have adequate supervision in place when two men died in a trench at a Ballarat housing estate in 2018.
Dave Brownlee, the father of Jack, told The Courier it had been a long journey to get to a resolution of the case.
"This has gone on for nearly three and a half years," he said.
"The stress it puts you under, it is never ending and it still won't end, but it is a good thing that we have the guilty plea (to failing to provide supervision), that is for sure.
"The stress of losing your loved one, that is never going to change for us, but this is one step in a process we have had to go through.
"The thing that is a little bit hard to handle is the fact we still don't have answers. It is alright having a plea of guilty but you still don't get any resolution in what happened to the boy.
"We still don't know which is a bit hard to deal with, so it is bittersweet."
Lana Cormie, Charlie Howkins' wife, said the length of the court process had added more trauma and distress.
"The Brownlees and I have been fighting to get things changed for the better for the families of the future," she said.
"I can only hope that there will be less families in the future that will have to go through what we have been through.
"It is a human right to come home alive and well at the end of the day for your family and that right was not afforded Jack and Charlie and our families."
The Ballarat-based company pleaded guilty at the County Court on Monday to one charge of failing to provide supervision to employees as necessary for them to perform work safely.
The company had previously pleaded not guilty to two charges in breach of the Occupational Health and Safety Act and the case was set for a lengthy trial.
The second charge alleging the company failed to maintain battering of the excavation and to use trench shields and manhole cages was dropped.
The trial had been delayed many times in the past few years and it was most recently listed for trial last week before being adjourned.
Charlie Howkins, 34, and Jack Brownlee, 21, died in the double workplace fatality in the Winterfield Estate on March 21, 2018.
Howkins died at the scene while Brownlee died the next day in hospital.
Few details of the case have been revealed since a two-day contested committal hearing held at the Ballarat Magistrates' Court in December 2019.
Pipecon Pty Ltd was completing a sewer construction project for the Winterfield Estate housing development in Delacombe, which included trenching, pipe laying and manhole installation.
It required Pipecon's employees to work in and around excavated trenches and manhole pits, which is considered high-risk work.
The prosecution states it was necessary for Pipecon to provide supervision to ensure that its employees did not carry out that work unless safety measures were in place.
These measures included battering or benching of excavation and the use of trench shields and manhole cages.
Witness evidence during the committal hearing in 2019 revealed protective shields were not in place in the trench to stop the two men from being buried alive.
A charge sheet states Brownlee and Howkins were working under the supervision of a Pipecon employee on the day of their death.
It says the supervising employee directed them to carry out high-risk work at a manhole while safety measures were not in place.
"While carrying out this work, a trench collapsed, engulfing Howkins and Brownlee. Both men died from head and crush injuries," the charge sheet states.
The case will return to court in October for a plea hearing.
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