April is done...and we have been pretty busy! Woody shares another plane story...not very happy! His kids riding motorbikes. Where our Safety Speakers will be in May & June and Don't Forget Safety Month in October.
So just ask yourself how you would cope with this?
Recently a client rang me to share my story with their apprentice group in Roxby Downs in SA. I’ve been to Roxby many times working for BHP.
So I ask the people that do my flight bookings to arrange a flight from Adelaide to Roxby Downs. Most of you know that I use a wheelchair so I need some assistance to get on and off the plane, but once I’m on I’m just like every other passenger. They get back to me and say that the airline that flies in and out
of Roxby (Alliance Airlines) will only fly me if I can give them the name of someone who will fly with me and help me if there is an emergency.
I’m sorry but this is bullshit!......
I’ve been flying for 30 years and this is the first time that I’ve been told that I need to fly with a "Carer".
Alliance this is wrong, how can you ask me that I need to provide someone to fly with me? For a start, I like to think I’m independent and pride myself on travelling alone. And secondly where do I find someone that will agree to travel with me and agree that if something goes wrong they have to stay behind and help me get off the plane!
You Suck Alliance!
Ok but now I’ve made my point I do want to ask you to think about the fact that if you get hurt it is not just the initial changes that make things difficult. My injury happened 30 years ago and I’m still having to deal with things because of it.
Some of you know that I have two adult sons, they are 22 and 27. I think because my accident happened when I was in my 20’s I’ve always been wary of some of the risks they take. However I have never stopped them from doing the things that they want to do.
I’ve always told them that they can do whatever they want as long as they
think about the way they do it. So my youngest son just bought a 500cc trail bike!
I love my bikes, and my boys have had trail bikes since they were young. But this thing has so much power it can lift the front wheel in any gear and eats rear tyres for breakfast.
I’m happy for my son, he works hard and is entitled to play hard, but the safety side of me is
thinking that I hope he remembers what I’ve always said to him…..
That he can do whatever he wants as long as he does it the right (And safe) way.
This month we went on a short family trip to Sydney. Most of the time I travel alone so it was good to jump on a plane with the family.
But I asked Ness to take a couple of pictures of me getting onto an aisle chair. My wheelchair is
too wide to fit down the aisle so the airline has a narrow aisle chair that I transfer onto and they then push me to my seat.
So here are a couple of pictures of how I get onto the airline aisle chair.
This happens every year, and I am sure it will happen again this year, People ring us up in September or even in October and ask if they can get a speaker out to their workplace!
If you are planning an event or a safety day and you want one of us to share our experiences with your people then please get in
touch NOW to book your speaker. Don’t leave it till the last minute.
These are the locations we will be in during the next couple of months. If you would like someone to visit your workplace please get in touch and we will see if we can do it while we are there. It will save you some travel costs….
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.
