WIM Newsletter June 2022 - Times are a changin'

WELCOME TO THE JUNE NEWSLETTER

Here we are at the end of another Financial Year.
I'll be pretty happy to start this financial year focusing on a full year ahead of sharing our stories in person to you all around the country.

This month I share how the focus on Mental Health has changed for the better and I have another gripe about my accommodation issues.

Michael shares a story about a recent visit to a mine site that will have you laughing out loud when you get to the end.

We have had a massive few months getting out to visit many businesses all over the country as you will see below, dates are filling up fast, especially for Safe Work Month in October. Make contact with us today to book your dates.

Stay Safe Australia
Woody

Times are a changin’

by James Wood

I was reading Michael Weston’s story 'Goal Posts' (read below) and it got me thinking about some of the changes I have seen over the last several years.

I got hurt over 30 years ago.
Mental health was not discussed back then and I often joke that the words 'Mental Health' were not even invented when I got hurt.

But this is changing and it’s a good thing.
I used to go and visit a workplace and share my story and afterwards I’d often have a few people come and tell me about a near miss or an incident that they have been involved in.

This still happens, but I’ve noticed that people are also now sharing their experiences with anxiety, depression and mental health.

I’ve had a few conversations with people that are telling me that they have struggled with some of these issues for years, but it is not until they have asked or sought help that they have been able to look into what they can do to manage some of these challenges.

Mental health is real. I’ve seen it in people I know and I’ve met strangers that live with Mental Health issues. We need to continue to discuss how it impacts people's lives and rather than see it as being 'different' let's see it as something that many of us live and deal with daily.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to become a pain in the arse to hotel, motel, accommodation owners and providers!

I’m writing this from a hotel room in South Australia. I asked if they had a shower chair that I could use in the shower. They said they would have one brought down.
We went out for a couple of hours and returned to the room to find a commode chair in the bathroom.
Now I know I’m being picky here but a commode chair is for taking a crap over the toilet bowl, a shower chair is for sitting in the shower.

They are not the fkn same thing! So don’t give me a chair to shit on to use as a shower chair!

Look, I know it’s difficult to stay on top of everything that a guest might need, but a little training for your staff and a bit of common sense can make travelling a lot easier for a guest that needs a bit of equipment.

Goal Posts

by Michael Weston

Recently I was providing some talks for "Men's Health Week" in the Pilbara, Western Australia and the Pilbara certainly put on all its glory.

It was 26 degrees with a bright blue sky, stunning backdrops of the ranges and a beautiful moonlit sky at night. Just stunning!

I lived and worked in the Pilbara region for 16 years with my family before relocating to Perth in 2015. You don’t realise how much the Pilbara gets into your blood until you return…it's home.

Whilst most of my time in mining was living residentially in mining towns, I also had my fair share of Fly-In-Fly-Out (FIFO) camps. I've lived in some crappy camps in my time, including having sleeping quarters with no air-conditioner or fridge and a communal bathroom.

Every time I visit a new FIFO mine site these days, I have noticed a massive improvement in the quality of the camps. The dongas are now decent sized rooms with ensuite bathrooms, TVs etc. What really stands out these days is less focus on the wet mess (pub) and a greater focus on workers' recreational needs. These camps have gyms, pools, tennis, ovals, walking and bike riding tracks, golf driving nets and the list goes on. It's these improvements that support a person's mental health whilst they are away from loved ones at home. It allows them to have some decent recreation time outside of work whilst maintaining a healthy lifestyle and healthy mind.

Now I'm not one for spreading rumours, however, I found myself doing just that unconsciously when I recently arrived at a mining camp in the Pilbara. When I arrived at this camp, I was really excited to see that this camp had put up AFL goal posts on one of their ovals. I remember thinking to myself that these mining camps are just getting better all the time. Imagine doing a 12-hour day, return to camp and get to kick the footy for an hour… just awesome!

So when I arrived at the mine site to provide my talks to the teams, I couldn’t help but share with everyone the AFL goal posts that had been put in at one of the camp ovals. To my surprise, everyone was unaware that these had been installed and they were all talking about kicking a footy after work.

The next day as I was checking out of the camp to fly back to Perth, I jumped on the bus that was heading to the Newman airport which drove past the AFL goal posts. As the bus got closer to the goal posts, they got smaller and smaller before I had an “uh ha” moment whilst the feeling of blushing embarrassment rushed through my face.

The goal posts were in actual fact flag poles and there were 5 of them not 4.

So I'm sitting in my home office today writing this whilst reflecting and thinking of how many arguments are happening right now as to what score does a team get when they kick the footy between the 4th and 5th goal post… umm flag poles.

TESTIMONIAL

This is the second time I have engaged James to present his story around ‘Choices’. Once again, and looking around the room during the presentation, everyone was engaged from start to finish. For those looking for an alternative to the traditional safety communication methods, I would highly recommend James and anyone else from his team from CNB Safe.

Kevin Rayfield

Gladstone Port Corporation