Glenn Parsons death: Company pleads guilty over workplace safety breach at Leitchville cheese factory

A Goulburn Valley worker who was crushed to death at a Leitchville factory begged his mates for help, yelling “I can’t breathe” as he lay trapped.

A worker who was crushed to death while dismantling the old Murray Goulburn cheese factory at Leitchville in 2017 yelled out to his mate, saying “I can’t breathe” in the moments before he died.

Glenn Parsons, 59 of Kialla, died when he was crushed underneath a piece of factory machinery which was being packed into a shipping container to be shipped to New Zealand.

The New Zealand engineering company which oversaw the job, Andrew Buchanan Engineering, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to ensure workplace safety.

The court heard Parsons’ mate, whose foot was crushed and leg was broken in the accident, told him “everything was going to be fine … just hang in there”, as workers scrambled to get the 770kg piece of equipment off him.

Glenn Parsons, 59, was crushed to death while working to dismantle the old Murray Goulburn cheese factory at Leitchville, near Echuca. Picture: Supplied

Murray Goulburn Co-op's Leitchville cheese factory.

The company’s director, Andrew Buchanan, pleaded guilty on its behalf by video link from New Zealand, after prosecutors dropped charges against him personally.

The court heard the workers had to dangerously manoeuvre the condenser into a standard shipping container, when it would have been safer and easier to instead lower it by crane into an open-top container.

The condenser ultimately slipped and fell on Mr Parsons, leaving him with massive injuries, from which he died within minutes.

Mr Parsons’ widow, Sharon, told the court in a victim impact statement her husband’s death was the “most devastating experience I have ever been through”.

“Shortly before Glenn passed, we purchased a caravan for our retirement,” she said.

“I now travel alone.

“His presence is always starkly missed.”

Murray Goulburn Co-op's Leitchville cheese factory.

Mr Parsons’ sister, Jan Thomson, said her brother’s death “shattered my world”.

Her father had dementia when Mr Parsons died, and despite breaking the news to him, she said she “never knew if he fully understood that his son had died”.

“Glenn should never have died that day,” she said.

“I kept asking why this has happened, and I never got any answers.”

Judge Phillip Coish will sentence the company next week.