The last few months I have had some really interesting conversations with people about "Speaking Up".
I’ll be honest and say that before I got hurt I used to see my workmates take a risk or do something that I thought was "Unsafe"..... And I didn’t think I had the right to say anything to them. I can remember one time when I was an apprentice and the tradesman I was working with started using a grinder without a pair of glasses on. I can clearly remember thinking "That’s a bit dangerous" as we were always told to wear our safety
glasses at TAFE.
But I didn’t say anything because I thought he knew better than me!
Now I DO….. even if I’m only visiting a site for a short period and I happen to notice someone taking a shortcut or doing something risky I will approach them and just ask the question. "Is there a safer way to do that?"
So c’mon everyone let's make this the normal practice in our workplaces, let’s
look out for each other and make speaking up a "Normal action!"
Oh and if somebody says something to you rather than get defensive and tell them to mind their own business….. Take it as a compliment that someone will look out for you.
Woody recently did a rollout to all the Bega sites throughout Australia and they were kind enough to give Safety Annie this awesome Vegemite Bike Helmet!
She loves it!
Watch Safety Annie & Lara’s latest video on wearing Helmets when on your bike and scooter.
Have you ever thought about some of the thins you take for granted? And how you might cope if you had to do things
‘differently’? Watch how Woody washes the car in this time lapse video.
Rohan recently spent 9 days including travel on a mine site in Central Queensland...whilst there he decide to jot down a few notes of his day to day to
life on site. Keep in mind as a speaker going on site they do have a lot more down time than workers who are working 12 hours shifts.
A Diary Account of Life on Site for a Safety Speaker
Sunday
My family dropped my off at the Gull Bus in Geelong to take me to the airport to fly up to Brisbane for the night, I was very anxious about how they would go without having their
Dad around for 10 days. This was easily the greatest amount of time apart from me since late July 2011 when I was released from hospital after my workplace accident. Once I landed in Brisbane and checked in my hotel, I called to wish them goodnight. My youngest daughter wanted me to take 1 of her teddy’s, a girl bear named Coco, while she had Coco’s Daddy Bear named Rusty.
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….
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 to...
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.
