Widow 'disregarded' as she fights for answers over FIFO husband's death

A Perth widow says she has been forced to "fight" for answers after her husband died while working on an offshore gas plant, claiming she was not told of his death for 14 hours and had been denied access to a subsequent investigation.

Warning: This story contains references to suicide.

Laurence Harbeck, 34, took his life in November 2024 while working as a process control engineer on the Ichthys LNG plant, 220 kilometres off Western Australia's Kimberley coast.

His wife, Danielle Hadida, said her husband of eight months was due to return home after a 15-day FIFO swing when his body was found in his room by a cleaner.

Ms Hadida, a family law senior associate, has spent the past 19 months trying to piece together the circumstances that led to his death, with little success.

She said there had been nothing to indicate Mr Harbeck had been struggling with mental illness, although he had complained of not sleeping due to work-related stress.

"He'd been under a lot of pressure for quite a few months,"

she said.

"He was doing too much work, and I know that he'd talked about it to his bosses.

"We had no other distress in life. There was no financial pressure. We had a great marriage."

She was told there was no note left by her husband, who she described as smart, funny and generous.

She said her husband was full of energy and enjoyed every hobby under the sun, including playing the guitar, boating and fishing.

Told of death 14 hours later

Ms Hadida claimed she was not informed her husband had died until 14 hours after his body was found by a cleaner at 7:30am.

"I wasn't told until 9.30pm, when two police officers showed up at my house and they told me that Laurence had died," she said.

"I remember waving and smiling at them because I thought they just needed some CCTV or something.

"I opened the door and they just said, 'I'm sorry to tell you, Laurence has died'. And I didn't believe them."

She said she never received any explanation for the delay in informing her of her husband's death.

"I'm Laurie's emergency contact at work — no one called me, and I carry tremendous guilt."

Ms Hadida claimed she had very little contact from anybody from INPEX.

"I have never, ever heard from Laurie's direct boss, from his colleagues," she said.

"No-one contacted asking to come to his funeral. And that really, really upsets me."

'Everything is a fight'

The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) confirmed it had completed a "thorough" investigation into Mr Harbeck's death.

But Ms Hadida said she was told she would not be given a copy of the report and would have to make a Freedom of Information application seeking permission to see it.

She said she felt "completely disregarded" and "disrespected" in her dealings with INPEX, and felt let down by NOPSEMA.

"They said that I would get the report," she said.

"[Then] I was promised that I'd be given six weeks' notice that the report would be finished so that I could manage my trauma and my anxiety with my treating professionals.

"Out of the blue we got told it was done and that I wouldn't get it.

"Everything is a fight. Everything is a hurdle.

"Every process has let down Laurie, has let down me, his family, his friends.

"It just shouldn't feel like I have to fight to know what happened to my husband."

Matter 'closed': regulator

NOPSEMA said its inspectors attended the site in the wake of Mr Harbeck's death.

It said its role was to investigate matters that had the potential to affect the occupational health and safety of workers offshore.

The subsequent report has been sent to INPEX, but NOPSEMA said only "specified parties" were authorised to receive it.

"NOPSEMA has advised Mr Harbeck's family that the appropriate pathway to access information on the subject is through the mechanism known as Freedom of Information," the regulator said.

"The matter has now been closed."

In a statement to the ABC, INPEX said it was "deeply saddened" by Mr Harbeck's death.

But it did not answer questions on why there was a delay in reporting his death to his family.

"Our immediate priority was to offer support to Laurence's family and to his colleagues and friends," a company spokesperson said.

"We worked with WA Police at the time of the incident, and with NOPSEMA to support its independent investigation which recently concluded.

"INPEX would like to privately meet with the family, should they wish to speak with us."

'I just want to know'

Ms Hadida is calling for the state coroner to hold an inquest into her husband's death.

"I want to know what happened to him," she said.

"I want to know why he wasn't afforded the dignity of having me there. I want to know why it took so long for me to be told.

"I want to know why nobody contacted me. I want to know why none of his colleagues, who I thought were his friends, cared enough to reach out.

"I just want to know."