Widow grieves for her best friend and teammate

WHEN Tamar Baker received a call from her son early in the morning, she feared the worst.

Tamar Baker lost her husband Troy (pictured) in a workplace accident last year. Picture: Norm Oorloff

WHEN Tamar Baker received a call from her son early in the morning, she feared the worst.

It was November 30 last year, and Troy Baker and his teenage son, Preston, were working at a Lethbridge chicken farm late at night.

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Troy, who lived with his wife and three children in Geelong, was hit and killed by a forklift.

“I was in bed and I got a phone call from Preston early in the morning just saying there had been an accident.

“Nobody else rang me, I didn’t get a phone call from anybody, including the company,” Ms Baker said.

“In my heart I knew but I didn’t find out for a fact until the police officer turned up at my door.

“There’s a flaw there, what happened shouldn’t have happened, but there should have also been better communication. To this day, I still haven’t received a phone call from the company to apologise.”

Troy Baker and his son, Preston. Picture: Norm Oorloff

Last week, WorkSafe Victoria filed charges against the company, CK Crouch Pty Ltd, including failing to provide or maintain safe systems of work and failing to provide information, instruction and training to employees.

Immediately after the 41-year-old’s death, Ms Baker said her only priority was looking after their three children. “Initially, when that sort of thing happens, you’re just so deep in the grieving process and just surviving every day is a massive task,” she said.

Ms Baker met her future husband when she was 16 and they had been together for nearly 20 years.

“He wasn’t just my husband, he was my best friend, my teammate, my partner — the whole lot.

“It’s a huge thing to just have someone like that pulled out of your life,” said Ms Baker, now 37.