An inquest into the death of Ben Catanzariti, who died aged 21 when a boom fell on him at a Kingston Foreshore work site in 2012, has been pushed back to April.
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It has also emerged this week that the man's family will be represented at the inquest by lawyers paid for by one of the country's biggest unions.
CFMEU ACT branch secretary Dean Hall confirmed outside court on Thursday the union will supply solicitors from its national in-house legal team, as well as experts and information on occupational health and safety, to do the leg work in preparation for the inquest.
Mr Hall said the union will also engage a high-profile barrister to represent the family at the hearing.
While counsel was yet to be finalised, Elliot Rowe, a solicitor at the office of prominent Canberra barrister Bernard Collaery, appeared at court for the family on Thursday.
Ahead of the inquest, one problem facing lawyers relates to expert reports on what caused the boom's bolts to fail. Three seperate reports have detailed three different reasons: incorrect tightening, a metallurgical phenomenon called "hydrogen embrittlement" and another called stress corrosion cracking.
A potential solution to help narrow the inquest's scope was to ask each of the authors to read and then reflect on each other's report, to see if there were any shifts in their positions. Counsel assisting the Coroner, Ken Archer, said on Thursday the authors were expected to furnish the additions by mid-February.
The timeline means tentative March dates for the inquest hearings have been pushed back to April. April 13, 18, 19 and 20, have been set aside for the hearing.
Mr Catanzariti was killed by the boom of a concrete pouring machine on July 21, 2012, after three weeks on the job. In May last year, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against concreting company Schwing Australia Pty Ltd and NSW engineer Phillip James O'Rourke.
The inquest had been put on hold pending the outcome of the criminal prosecution, and has now reopened.
Until Mr Catanzariti's mother, Kay Catanzariti, received a call this week to say the union would fund the family's legal costs, they were unrepresented in the inquest. In a Facebook post, she said the "average working class family" was humbled by the offer.
"They have come to our aide, people we didn't know prior to Ben's death. When they heard I was at the end of my tether they offered their support," she wrote.
On Thursday, Coroner Karen Fryar acknowledged the anxiety the whole process had caused Mr Catanzariti's family, but said she was also conscious of the need to take care throughout.
Outside court, Ms Catanzariti said, "I have faith and I highly respect Karen Fryar, that she will do her utmost to get to the bottom of it and find the truth."
The inquest will return for directions on March 9.
