To just see the person that he is now,
and the shift in when he talks about how it was for him
and how it is now
is just incredible.
Like, not a lot of people could do that.
My name's Nigel Smith.
I was working at Tubemakers
for a bit over 12 months before the accident.
It was just like a family...well, a big family company to work for.
Yeah, it was a really good place to work.
7th of December, '93, the accident happened.
INTERVIEWER: So, you were one of the first people on the scene?
I was one of the first there, yes.
NIGEL: Everything was going along fine,
till we had a jam-up on the conveyor.
Nigel didn't know the...the whole workings of the machine.
NIGEL: I stopped the machine,
climbed up on the conveyor,
and moved some of the product back over to the correct position.
Flipped the tube over.
As soon as the tube hit the prox, it automatically took off.
And I was actually standing on the machine,
and had my leg between two plates.
When it took off, it just knocked me off,
and I fell down, and it picked up the next brace.
If he hadn't...
If Matt hadn't have stopped the machine,
another three feet, Nigel would have been cut in half.
It was pretty horrific.
I shattered both the bones, right down near my ankle.
Tore about 50% of my calf muscle off.
I had a big laceration, went right around my thigh -
right down to the bone.
So, it was about 12 months before I actually lost my leg.
Yeah, I know that a couple of my bosses
are going to be there tomorrow, that I worked for.
And Kevy Baker will be there tomorrow.
He was the first...first-aid person there on site that helped me.
So, it'll be an interesting conversation, I guess,
to talk with Kevy.
- I'd just made a cup of coffee...
- Yeah?
..when Matt started blowing the horn.
"What's going on?"
And I looked around.
I could see Matt.
Then I've seen this other helmet.
"He shouldn't bloody be there."
NIGEL: Still makes the same noise?
KEVIN: Yeah, mate.
Except for your scream.
(BOTH CHUCKLE)
Yeah.
I could actually hear it before the whistle.
Right.
I couldn't work out where it had come from.
When Matt started blowing that whistle...
Yeah.
Gone down, around the corner, and looked down.
I've worked here for 46 years in August.
INTERVIEWER: Seen some changes.
A lot of changes.
This site's always been really good in storytelling,
and using storytelling to actually trigger something in people
to really trigger why safety is important.
Because we now think about potential consequence,
rather than actual consequence,
we actually get to learn from what could have been the tragedy,
in finding a near miss
or an incident that could have harmed someone.
So, we still treat it the same way.
And I've come into a really good culture,
a really good, strong business that's thriving.
So, to hear about how things used to be,
how the culture used to be, is quite surprising,
and really sometimes not believable.
There was no culture like there is now.
Like, we used to just...
Sometimes you wouldn't even turn the power off.
You'd just get in, fix the machine up - that was it.
The whole safety culture in the workplace has change dramatically.
You know, back then,
you know, workplace safety - it was sort of optional.
I think the pride now on this site
is a pride of everyone being involved in safety,
and safety being everyone's business -
not just management's business.
As the Acting Operations Manager at the moment,
that's one of the biggest things I'm proud of - this site.
We educate our people now.
Even though it happened 20 or 30 or 40 years ago,
we still remind our people that it did happen, and why it happened,
and that it plays a really important part
of how we are now and who we are now.
Because that emotionally drives people to be safe at work,
and to look after themselves and their workmates,
because they don't want anything like that to ever happen to them.
And I think that it's very unique
that you can have an individual
who's had a very serious incident
who can come back
and talk 22 years later to a group of people,
and some of us were his workmates at that time.
I was like your average 25-year-old.
You know, I was flat-out everywhere and into everything.
You know, I led a really active life.
After my accident, it took me quite a while
to get back into living any sort of normal lifestyle.
You know, I went through a long period of feeling sorry for myself.
But I realised that I had this group of people around me
who had propped me up and supported me through, you know,
what I can only describe as the toughest times in my life.
That the way I was living was affecting these people
I guess was enough of an inspiration for me to get up and have a go,
and, you know, really find out what I could do -
because I had no idea
while I was sitting in the corner, crying about it all.
Up until last week, when I came back
and actually sat down and spoke to Kevy about it,
and that, you know, it really reinforced to me
how we just don't understand, we don't know the full impact.
There's so many people's lives
that are affected when somebody gets hurt.
Yeah, I have been through it.
And I don't, do not... want anyone to go through it.
I would not like to see anyone go through it.
Because it's not worth having your mate injured,
maimed, or anything like that.
That's just too horrific.
And you don't get it out of your mind.
Like, this happened back in '93,
and I can still remember everything...
..as if it was yesterday.
I think if I had to say to Nigel...
First of all, from a business, we'd have to say
that we are very sorry that that incident happened to him.
I'd like to make him feel comfortable, I think,
around that out of that incident,
we've never had another horrific incident on this site,
like we did that day.
So, one of the things, I guess,
that Nigel can take away from this as well
is knowing that he has potentially prevented
the next couple of injuries from happening in that area.
Years ago, before Nigel's accident,
we talked about safety.
Was anything sort of done about it?
No.
Today?
Yeah.
Safety's...
Years ago, it was down here.
Where it is now - it's way up here, or above.
It's...it just keeps going.
And it's getting better and better.
Coming full circle,
it's great to be coming back to the place where I had the accident,
and to try and help with safety there.
But I think it is a little bit dangerous
to assume that we have come full circle
and come to a conclusion.
You know, this is the start of the journey of working safely.
You know, we can't rely on the fact that we've made it.
You know, we do have to keep striving for a safe workplace.
You know, I've got a 17-year-old son and a 15-year-old daughter.
Some of the ways that I judge a workplace
is whether I would let my son or daughter work in this workplace.
And I guess I'm proud enough to say
that on this site, I would have no hesitation
to let my son work in this place.
Can I say that about every other industry?
I'm not sure if I can, yeah.
If you don't look after each other, it's a waste of time being here.