A devastated father made a horrifying discovery after his newly married son failed to come home from work — finding the 26-year-old dead inside a piece of heavy machinery he had allegedly complained about just hours earlier.
Josh Thomson-Parkin died Tuesday, Aug. 11, in an apparent workplace accident involving a commercial wood chipper in Australia’s Adelaide Hills.
His father, Max Parkin, said he went searching for Josh after the young worker’s wife became alarmed when he never returned home.
What Max found at the worksite was every parent’s worst nightmare.
“I found him in that machine,” the grieving father told News 24, explaining that the equipment had apparently become clogged and Josh had been trying to clear it when part of the machinery fell and crushed him.
The tragedy is even more heartbreaking because Josh had married his wife, Mekayla, just four months earlier.
According to Max, Mekayla raised the alarm when Josh still had not come home by around 4:30 a.m.
Max immediately feared something was wrong because Josh had spoken to him the previous night about trouble he was having with the machine while working for Mechanical Vegetation Solutions.
“He was having a chat on the couch with me Monday night about the machine that he died in,” Max told 7 News.
“It was giving him a hard time all that day. It was doing his head in.”
Now, the shattered father is demanding answers about why his son was apparently working alone around dangerous equipment.
“I don’t understand. His boss should have found him, not me,” Max said. “Why were there no workers there to make sure he finished work?”
SafeWork SA confirmed that inspectors are investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal incident.
Mechanical Vegetation Solutions offered condolences to Josh’s family and said its immediate priority was supporting everyone affected by the tragedy.
South Australia Police are also preparing a report for the coroner.
But questions about workplace safety are already mounting.
Dave Kirner, secretary of the South Australian chapter of the Timber, Furnishing & Textiles Union, alleged that concerns about employees working alone with dangerous machinery had been raised before Josh’s death.
Kirner told The Advertiser that the union had previously contacted Mechanical Vegetation Solutions and SafeWork SA about alleged problems involving lone workers at job sites.
“These are big issues — working alone — because if something happens there’s no one there to protect you or notify others,” he said.
As investigators work to determine exactly what happened, Josh’s loved ones are remembering a young man known for his huge personality and willingness to help others.
Longtime friend Kristina Pascoe called him a “social butterfly” who could make friends virtually anywhere.
“He would have come up to you straight away and started talking to you, and you’d be best friends,” she told The Advertiser.
She recalled attending music festivals with Josh, where he would disappear into a crowd, make a new group of friends and eventually bring everyone back together.
Josh’s mother, Tanya Thomson, described her son as “empathetic to a fault” and said the family remains stunned by the sudden loss.
After learning that Josh’s father had found him, Tanya said she spent hours walking around the house repeating one word: “No.”
“We’ve all been waiting to wake up from this nightmare,” she said.
Tanya remembered Josh as quirky, funny, loving and incredibly hardworking.
“He had a fantastic work ethic, which ended up costing him his life,” she said. “He just loved people — he would give anyone the shirt off his back.”
Josh’s death remains under investigation.
Unimaginable Poor father, Poor Josh and wife. I knew of someone who lost his arm in a meat-grinder, and the fire department had to take the damn thing apart to get him out!