Powerful presentation makes workers think twice about their safety

Gold Coast man Paul Bailey looks around a crowded room, picks out a young man and asks him: “Who would look after you if you were in a wheelchair?”

The young man is taken aback for a moment.

That moment, in which everybody in the room is forced to consider how they would cope with a spinal cord injury, captures the power of SEAT at WORK.

This Sunday marks the beginning of Disability Action Week (5-11 September), which embraces difference and diversity in the community.

Paul, from Runaway Bay, is one of the presenters of the Spinal Injuries Association program that promotes disability awareness and injury prevention.

The presenters, who all have quadriplegia or paraplegia, go to workplaces across the State, telling their own stories and encouraging audiences to make safety a priority.

They also provide down-to-earth advice about how to speak to and treat customers with a disability.

Paul, a 40-year-old former electrician, is blunt with his audience.

“I speak about the reality of life in a wheelchair, warts and all,” he said. “I’ve had hard-nosed construction workers come up to me and tell me they can’t believe my attitude.”

The father of two was paralysed in 2007 when an 850kg switchboard fell on him at a job site.

“I tell blokes that complacency probably played a bit of a part in my accident. I was on the way to the tackle shop to go fishing and was called up to unload a switchboard,” he said.

“I didn’t have a lot of say about how we should have gone about it. I figured everything was in place. But it was a comedy of errors and the switchboard slipped out of the harness and fell straight on top of me. By rights I should have been killed.”

Like many men his age, Paul believed he was invincible.

“I thought it would never happen to me,” he said.

But it did. About 95 per cent of people who sustain a work-related spinal cord injury are male. Most are aged between 25 and 34.

Spinal Injuries Association CEO Mark Henley said adopting the SEAT at WORK program demonstrated an organisation’s commitment to safety.

“Queensland has the second highest rate of work-related spinal cord injuries in Australia,” Mark said.

“Of those who sustain a work-related spinal cord injury, up to 70 percent never return to work.

“A SEAT at WORK presentation could potentially save somebody from a lifelong physical disability.”

Paul’s story is one of resilience and hope. He goes kayaking on the lake near his home and is involved with the disabled surfers program. He also plans to re-train and return to the workforce.

To book a SEAT at WORK presentation, please visit www.spinal.com.au or email seat@spinal.com.au.

Issued 1 September.