United in grief, Australians sharing the indelible bond of their loved one going to work never to return are making a plea for change.
Galvanised by collective heartbreak, they gathered at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday to anxiously await the release of a report into workplace deaths.
They are behind the Australian Council of Trade Unions' push for new federal industrial manslaughter laws as a preventative measure for deaths at work.
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."
He wants industrial manslaughter laws to boost Australians' safety at work, rather than to lock up dodgy bosses.
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 trio form a wider group of families who are hopeful the Senate committee's report can lead to change.
"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.
The peak body for unions' assistant secretary Michael Borowick wants new corporate manslaughter laws to be part of a suite of measures to stamp out workplace deaths.
