Jocelyn Collins collapsed onto the floor of her local Telstra store when she was given news that no mother ever wants to receive.
Her loving son, Shaun Burns, had died at work. A bucket of concrete had fallen on him from a crane at a construction site in Melbourne's east.
Telstra workers ran to the distressed woman's aid and called her daughter, Samantha Burns.
"All I could hear was her wailing in agony in the background, a sound I will never forget, and a strange man telling me to come and get my mother because she had just been told her son is dead," Ms Burns told the County Court on Wednesday.
She later found out a senior person at Alliance CG, the construction company, called her mother to deliver the news.
"This was an appalling manner to be advised your son was dead and there clearly had been a significant breakdown between the police and the employer," Ms Burns said.
"The first of many failings of the system that has had a significant and lasting impact on me."
The family went to the Coroners Court to identify Mr Burns' body the following day, which was distressing as they were only able to see his hand.
"It felt incomplete, as a mother, just seeing that small part of him," Ms Collins said in a statement read to court.
Ms Burns called for Clark Cranes, the crane hire company, to pay a "significant price" for her brother's death and the trauma its negligence had caused her family.
Mr Burns, 48, died and two others were injured when a kibble laden with wet concrete fell from a crane on September 6, 2018, at the Box Hill site.
The matter went to trial after Clark Cranes pleaded not guilty to ensuring the crane was safe and without risks to health.
But the company was found guilty by a jury on January 31, and faced a pre-sentence hearing on Wednesday where prosecutors pushed for a $1.4 million fine and conviction.
Clark Cranes, which has about 18,000 tower head cranes operating in Australia and 100,000 worldwide, failed to ensure a split pin was safely inserted into the hoist rope of the crane that day, the court was told.
In the weeks after the incident, more than 60 cranes were pulled from operation and underwent safety checks.
Defence barrister David Carolan asked for the company to be sentenced without conviction as it was abiding by Australian standards at the time.
He said Clark Cranes changed its pre-erection check list since the incident and a photo of each split pin is taken before it is put into operation.
"Safety is a primary concern for those running the company," he said.
Judge Gavan Meredith said he hoped to sentence in the next two weeks.
The prosecution discontinued its case against Alliance CG, which had been charged with failing to provide a system of work that ensured employees did not work under suspended loads and failing to provide documented information, instruction or supervision to ensure workers followed a safe system of work.
