EVERY year in Australia, hundreds of people are killed at work.

They leave for the day, kiss their loved ones goodbye and never walk back in the door.

Ben Catanzariti was a part of this sad statistic and it’s almost four years since the concreter was struck by a 39m long boom while working in Canberra.

The night before he died he was bantering with his mother Kay on the phone about the Bulldogs and Manly rugby league game on TV.

Ben had moved to Canberra for work but that meant he was away from his family members who lived in Griffith, a town in the Riverina in NSW.

His mother never expected that conversation about the footy to be their last.

While the family was grieving for Ben, Mrs Catanzariti got a phone call from the construction union, and it was like a “hand grenade” had been dropped on the family.

She found out Ben did not have a will and his immediate family was not entitled to claim his workers’ compensation.

There was somebody who ticked the boxes — but who?

As far as Mrs Catanzariti knew, Ben wasn’t in a serious relationship.

The 21-year-old also worked as a security guard at PJ O’Reilly’s pub in Tuggeranong in Canberra and the mother thought he often kept different female company.

But Ben had been in a relationship with an 18-year-old woman, Kahlia Boyd, for eight months and she lodged the claim and ended up being awarded a payout of more than $200,000.

Ms Boyd had been listed on Ben’s employment contract as his emergency contact and he said she was his wife.

Mrs Catanzariti was not able to lodge an application for his workers’ compensation as she was not financially dependent on her son like Ms Boyd was.

The mother says her family didn’t get a say in his workers’ compensation because her son never made a will and she launched the website Will It Your Way to encourage young people to clearly state their wishes.

In documents from the ACT Magistrates Court, the decision was made to award Ms Boyd the payout because she was financially dependent on Ben and the pair had plans to spend their lives together.

The court found Ms Boyd was living with Ben in a unit in Canberra and they were domestic partners who shared the cooking, cleaning and grocery shopping.

“I loved Ben and the feeling was mutual, everyone who actually knew us knows that,” Ms Boyd told news.com.au. “Ben got out of bed that morning, he kissed me goodbye, he told me that he loved me and never came home to me.”

Ms Boyd also showed the court letters and cards from Ben that said he wanted to marry her and make a life with her.

“As we lay in bed each night I dream of the day I ask you to be my wife. The day I hold you as I slide the ring on your finger as we say our vows. I see you when I’m in pain sickness and happiness your (sic) always with me and you will always hold and have my heart … I know we will have gorgeous kids and that we will be great parents,” he wrote to his girlfriend.

The day before Ben died, July 20, 2012, he sent Ms Boyd a photo of himself with the caption “your sexy man hard at work”.

And as further proof the pair lived together, Ms Boyd showed the court text messages she received from Ben.

She asked him if she could invite a friend over and he responded “yes that’s okay it’s your house to (sic).”

From this evidence, the court ruled in Ms Boyd’s favour and awarded her the payout.

Court documents show Mrs Catanzariti denied Ms Boyd was living with her son and said she saw no female possessions around his unit.

Ben’s landlady also told the court she did not see any signs a woman was living at Ben’s house and a friend said he had never met Ms Boyd and it did not appear the relationship was serious.

Mrs Catanzariti says she is not upset about the money, but the fact Ms Boyd would claim it, despite her being entitled to it.

The mother’s mission now is to make young people aware of the power of listing somebody as an emergency contact on job forms and said going through the workers’ compensation process was just extra heartache.

“Think about who you put down as your emergency contact and make a will and don’t be afraid to talk about death with your family,” she said.

“I put the challenge out to all employers to ask all their employees if they have a will and put it on your applications to start that conversation.”