Welcome to the March update. I ask you... Are you delivering what you say you do? Greg Smith is honoured in his home town of Ballarat, I did a massive Roadshow in FNQ & Did you know we offer company branded stickers? Make sure you check out our site visit photos below and on our Safety Blog page.
Ok, so how many of you are able to offer a product or a service that doesn’t actually do what you say it does?
It seems that hotels are able to!!!!!
Recently I booked a hotel room that claimed to be wheelchair friendly, when I arrived there was a six inch step at the front of the room with a timber ramp that had an old bit of carpet nailed to it.
The ramp was almost at a 45 degree angle and there was nothing that I could grab onto to pull myself up. Its just Bullshit that you can offer a room that is just not accessible without assistance. The staff were great in offering to help me to get in and out of the room but that's not the
point. I want to be able to get in and out of the room without having to ask for help.
I’m sick of booking a room in a hotel that claims to be wheelchair friendly but it’s just not!
If you don’t have a room that suits me just tell me and I’ll find one elsewhere... but don’t sell me something that just doesn’t work!
Some of you will have met Greg Smith and heard how fatigue led to him using a wheelchair for the last 30 years.
Did you know he has also competed at 5 Paralympics and won medals at every one! He also is the current Strength and Conditioning coach for the Australian Wheelchair Rugby team the "Steelers".
Greg is humble about his achievements but has been recognised by an OAM and more recently the unveiling of the Ballarat Paralympic Sports Avenue.
Greg is one of 5 Paralympic athletes from the Ballarat region to have plaques displayed in their honour.
Last year I was invited to share my story with the leadership group for one of Australia’s largest sugar producers Wilmar Sugar. I must have said something right because a couple of weeks later I received a phone call asking me if I would visit ALL of their Queensland operations to share my message and to speak with as many Wilmar employees as possible.
So I embarked on a two week road trip that took me to sugar mills in Ingham, Proserpine, Sarina and Ayr.
I have to congratulate Wilmar for the effort they put in to making sure that all of their people were able to listen to my story and also for making sure that they had the opportunity to raise any issues they have about safety.
When you think about it they can easily ring up someone and ask them to come to their workplaces, but when you also give people the time away from their job and the possible loss to production while they are hearing my
messages it is a massive commitment from an employer.
Awesome job Wilmar I hope that other business’s are willing to put in the same effort.
I sent a message to the other Safety Speakers late last year and asked them to give me a statement or a sentence about what they enjoy about sharing their stories.
