Wheels in Motion December - Talk to Someone

Hey everyone, we have made it through another year. I’m sure time seems to be going quicker as I get older?

I know we do this every year but I want to ask you all to take extra care this month. This is the month that most of us catch up with family and friends that we have not seen during the year, and some of us eat more and drink more than we should.

But it’s also the time of year that some of us take a risk and get hurt!

Don’t hurt yourself this Christmas because it will not only ruin it for you but the people that care about you will also have a crappy Christmas if something happens to you!

And on that note I’d like to say happy festive season to you all. It’s been great to work and catch up with you this year.

From all of us here at C&B Safe we wish you the
Happiest & Safest Christmas with best wishes for 2017.

James, Vanessa, Greg, Michelle, Alan, Rohan & Anton…and Annie.

Talk to Someone

A few times this year I’ve had conversations with people about how I coped with my injury mentally.
Usually someone asks me...

"Did you have counselling?”

Back when I got hurt I think the medical profession were a bit different. Their focus was to get someone physically back on track & hopefully the mental side would sort itself out!
These days we put a lot more effort into making sure someone copes with the mental health side of things too.

So my normal answer is “No I did not have counselling….. but I was lucky that I had some really good people around me that forced me to talk about how I was feeling.”

My Dad said to me when I was lying in hospital “I want you to tell me how you are feeling” I told him I didn’t want to talk about it. But he kept nagging me and after a week or so I started to tell him if I was angry, frustrated, sad, upset etc.
After a month or so we had got into the habit of every day I’d tell my dad how my day was…… If I was feeling down or if I was up. And I got to the point where I looked forward to sharing how I was feeling with my old man.
I honestly believe that had he not forced me to talk to him I would have kept all of my emotions & feelings inside until they “Got to me”!

So my suggestion to any of you is that we all need to find someone that we can talk to. It might be a partner or a friend or it might be a complete stranger!

But if you can share & talk about your feelings it will make you feel much better.

Bittersweet Memories
Michelle Rath

As our family nears yet another anniversary where our son and brother Alex was taken from us

the anxiety starts to creep in for me, Xmas, what would have been his 27th birthday and 4th year anniversary all within 4 weeks of each other. It hurts and it becomes a bit of a blur as I try to find ways to get through each occasion.

It will always be a struggle, particularly at this time of the year.

BUT we reached a goal recently and for our family it’s bittersweet.

You see, Alex was into drag racing his beloved Nissan 200SX at Adelaide International Raceway.

Sadly, he only got to race once, but I love the fact that I was able to witness it.

It’s a memory I hold close to my heart, I can still see the smile on his face from the sheer thrill!!

So his car has finally returned home, something we all hoped would eventuate one day.

Something we all worked hard to make happen along with a lot of negotiation.

A car that will be restored to its former glory and handed over to his big brother as that’s what Alex would have wanted.

The feeling that day when it drove up the road, gave way to many tears and hugs along with some celebratory drinks that night.

In a sense it was like bringing our little boy home again, we had part of him back.

I guess what I want our readers to realise is this….Life for our family , almost 4 years on has been a continual battle.

We are always having to deal with one thing or another which are a consequence of losing our beautiful Alex.

It doesn’t get easier!!!

But these days when I drive into the garage, there is my sons car alongside mine and it gives me temporary happiness.

Doing it Right...

This is a story for Safety Professionals and Managers

Over the last 2 months I have been going to the same site every week. They have released a new SHMS (Safety Health Management System) and asked me to visit the site to help show why we have these things in our workplaces.
I have to say that it has been one of the best things that I have done and I have to give the site credit for the way that they have done it.

Firstly, they had a large employee involvement in the new SHMS, it was not just drawn up by safety people and managers & shoved down their throats! It was designed with input from workgroups and shop floor staff.

Secondly, it has cut out a lot of the “Procedural” requirements and made it much simpler & easier to understand. Sure it still complies with the Act and they still have specifications and SWMS. But it looks like a really good system and much more user friendly.

But Thirdly, the fact that I have been on site every week for 8 weeks has given employees a chance to talk to me about some of the concerns they have with safety and to ask me the questions that they did not ask in front of their workmates. It also allows them to tell me about some of the things that they have “Got away with”.

I think this is a really important point, many of you have had an incident but not been hurt. But by seeing just how close you came to getting hurt or by hearing how my injury changed my life it makes some people more aware of how things could have changed for them.

So for those of you in a management or safety role please have a think about how you get your messages across and also think about how you can give your people the reason for the systems you have in place at your business or workplace.

Thank you Maxine

About 9 years ago Vanessa suggested to me that I do a monthly newsletter.
Now my graphic design skills are crap & Vanessa is too busy sending safety speakers all over the country to design and put together a newsletter.

So she suggested that we ask Maxine who had already helped us out with our logo's, business cards and other creative things. So from the first newsletter 8 years ago Maxine has produced our pdf newsletter Wheels in Motion. You can see all last 8 years here. http://www.cnbsafe.com.au/newsletters/

We know that there were many times where Maxine was doing our newsletter late at night & early mornings and we never missed a deadline because of her effort.

But unfortunately Maxine is also busy doing many other things and moving on to other projects.

Thanks Maxine, we really appreciate your help over the last 9 years the newsletters will not be the same without you. Part of our success is using the right people for the right job.

You were definitely the right person to get this to where it is today Maxine...thank you!!

Woody's Words

Have you all been watching Woody’s Words?

We are 6 months into Woody's Words and I love the feedback and the responses we are getting...Thank you!!

If any of you have a suggestion or a question that you want me to turn into a Woody’s Words please feel free to send them to Woody@cnbsafe.com.au

Friend here is Week 22 & 24 if you missed it.

Week 25 will be out tomorrow...

Seatbelts.... Public Amenities...