Delacombe: Pipecon sentenced over Jack Brownlee and Charlie Howkins’ deaths

A judge has said “nothing will bring back” two men killed in a horrific workplace incident in Delacombe as she sentenced their employer in court.

Charlie Howkins, 34, and Jack Brownlee, 21, were killed in a workplace accident at Delacombe in March 2018.

A Ballarat construction company has been fined $550,000 over the deaths of two workers who were killed when a trench collapsed in Delacombe in 2018.

Pipecon was fined $550,000 and convicted in Ballarat County Court on Friday after pleading guilty to a single charge of failing to provide supervisions which led to the workplace deaths of Charlie Howkins, 34, and Jack Brownlee, 21.

The court earlier heard project supervisor Shaun Maher had asked for additional employees in the lead up to the tragedy but instead he was given a smaller team that included Charlie and Jack.

Not only was the project understaffed but it was under-supervised, the court heard.

Pipecon had recently doubled its amount of safety equipment on the site, spending $20,000 on hiring trench shields and manhole cages from Maybe Hire.

But workers claimed the manholes did not have cages or trench shields available on the site.

The manhole where the tragedy occurred had also been exposed to water and sunlight which led to clay drying out and losing its integrity. An excavation expert said the sub-surface conditions meant the manhole would inevitably collapse.

At 10am on March 21 workers stopped for a break but when Charlie and Jack didn’t show up, they went looking and eventually found them in the collapsed trench.

Jack was found with his head and arm sticking above the dirt screaming for help but Charlie wasn’t moving.

Mr Maher and a team of workers rushed to free the men.

Emergency services were able to free Jack but he was taken to hospital in Melbourne where he later died.

Judge Claire Quin said the workplace safety system which had been in place “failed these two men”.

She said her sentence must serve as a reminder to other companies about

“Companies must be ever vigilant in providing a safe workplace,” she said.

“Nothing this court can do will bring them back.”

Mr Howkins is survived by two young children with his daughter Sophie, 7, sharing a PowerPoint at the plea hearing last month.

“I’ll never have a dad who is as loving and caring as you, I wish you were here to see me grow up,” she said.

Pipecon Director Andrew Maher apologised to the families involved.

“I can’t imagine the pain and grief you have suffered for the past three and a half years,“ he said.

Judge Quin indicated she would have fined Pipecon $700,000 if the company had not pleaded guilty.

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