Teamsafe Ambassador David Crawford

David was severely injured when he fell from a partly constructed roof on a Sydney building site.

His story is all the more poignant because he had noticed what he believed to be problems with the structure which went uncorrected and then, later, brought about his accident.

“On the day of the accident I was walking across the rafters when one of them suddenly gave way and I fell about four metres to the ground. The impact damaged the vertebrae in my neck at C6/C7 and I had to spend six weeks in traction before the area was fused and stabilised”, David said.

David’s accident sparked a major review of building site safety which prompted new regulations covering scaffolding, harnesses and roof railings.

Before the accident David was looking forward to an energetic life as a qualified builder with a great many sporting interests including soccer, surfing, golf, and tennis. At the age of 27 he was also in a happy, long term personal relationship, engaged to be married. Unfortunately, the relationship didn’t survive and he also found it impossible to resume his career in the building industry. He now works with his brother, managing a motor vehicle repair business.

“I was forced to make a lot of adjustments and that was only possible because of the enormous support I got from my family, especially my parents”, he said.

“One positive aspect, if there is any, is that I now take nothing for granted. Every day is a new challenge and it’s a matter of always striving to achieve something bigger and better”, David said.

Teamsafe Ambassador Alex Trail

I went out to work one morning and didn’t come home for three months. I was 23 years old with three children under five.

In just a few seconds my accident took away my ability to walk and my chosen career path.

While on the job, I fell 10 metres from a ladder and broke my spinal cord.

If workplace practice at the time had allowed me to wear a safety harness I would be walking today.

Those few seconds changed my life as well as the lives of my wife and children.

As part of the Teamsafe program, we give employees an opportunity to experience sitting and moving about in a wheelchair. The experience usually gets a laugh but there is also a serious side. They begin to think about the consequences of such an injury and how it would change their life. That’s what Teamsafe is all about. We simply want to encourage employees to take Occupation Health & Safety seriously. Sharing the life-experience of our ambassadors is an effective way to get the message across. Employees realise they need to accept responsibility for their own safety as well as keep an eye on their workmates.

If we work together the incidence of serious injury in the workplace can be reduced. I hope you’ll support us and get involved with Teamsafe.