Widow frustrated by lack of answers

The widow of a contractor killed at BHP Billiton’s Port Hedland operations says she is frustrated her family still have no answers as to why husband Jordan died.

Kelly Marriott-Statham told of the heartache of losing her husband of less than three months when he was crushed under a loaded crane that collapsed on July 7.

Mr Marriott-Statham, 27, was working as a trainee for Fenner Dunlop when he was killed.

“There is no explanation yet,” she said. “The investigation is still continuing. It is frustrating and it isn’t. It is because my family and I want some answers but it isn’t because you know they’re being thorough.”

Mrs Marriott-Statham, who met Jordan five years ago in their hometown of Kiama, NSW, said her husband was a keen fisherman, four-wheel-drive enthusiast and snowboarder.

She said they moved to Port Hedland in 2008 to “set ourselves up” and married in April.

“We had a lot to look forward to together, ” she said.

“We were always going to move back to Kiama and buy a family home and start a family.

“Jordan was just a really genuine kind of person. He was the guy everyone liked and he didn’t take himself too seriously.”

The one constant since her husband’s death, Mrs Marriott-Stratham said, was the ongoing support of Miner’s Promise.

The WA mining legacy scheme is an Australian-first to help provide for the families of WA resources workers who are killed or seriously injured.

Mrs Marriott-Statham said Miner’s Promise executive director Cassie White had been in daily contact since the day after her husband died.

She said all companies in the resources sector should join the agency in case the worst happened.

“I don’t think the HR services within most of the big mining companies are used to dealing with this kind of thing or know exactly what they need to do, not on the level I needed them anyway, and that’s what Miner’s Promise offered.

“I don’t know what I would have done without them.”

Apart from practical support, including immediate financial assistance and dealing with the coroner, Ms White said Miner’s Promise organised a memorial service for Mr Marriott-Statham.

The service, in Port Hedland, was designed to give his colleagues who could not get to his funeral in NSW a chance to say goodbye to their mate.

“We find it good for closure for the guys on site,” Ms White said