By Michael Weston
Can our emotions cloud our judgement when it comes to the safety and wellbeing of ourselves and of our loved ones?
Recently, my wife Donna and I found ourselves asking this very question.
We decided that we were going to downsize and purchase an apartment close to the city of Perth in Western Australia. This would definitely be a change but would suit the lifestyle we wanted to live.
During our search for an apartment in Perth, after looking at dozens of properties, we came across an apartment which was $85,000 lower than the original purchase price, so we decided to go and take a look. We were surprised that this property was in pristine condition with high-end fittings and had an absolutely stunning 180 degree view of the Swan River, which was uninterrupted. In addition to this, the view would not be blocked by any future builds. Up until now, we had looked at many properties and in some cases were disappointed with unsuccessful bids. Emotions were starting to run high!
So here we are, in an apartment with a starting price we assume will exceed our budget; however, before we can blink an eye we are told this is within our budget. The apartment is exactly what we were looking for. The question that Donna and I have now is, what’s the catch?
We decided to get some advice from a family member who works in real estate and the best advice they provided us was, look closely at the Strata Building Budgets, the Maintenance AGM minutes and importantly, the 10-year Maintenance Plan. Now I have to confess that I’m like most of us, when a document of over 60 pages is given to you, the brain tends to switch into “she’ll be right” after reading the first page, the middle page and the last page. Too much information is an overload!
Sifting through the paperwork, we came across something that was confusing within the Maintenance budget. The painting budget for the year was $150k total; however, not one dollar had been utilised for painting. In addition to this, the AGM minutes had complaints from residents that the internal walls were well overdue for painting. Why were they not utilising the budget set out? Then, like a light shining brightly within the tunnel were the words “COMBUSTIBLE CLADDING”. These two words will become our key focus going forward.
You may remember the terrible fire at the Grenfell Tower in West London, where a fire broke out and many people died and were injured. There was another cladding fire in 2019, which occurred in Melbourne and whilst only one person was taken to hospital with smoke inhalation, the potential to replicate the Grenfell Tower fire was very possible.
In relation to the building that Donna and I were contemplating purchasing an apartment in, the cladding on this building was audited twice, once after the Grenfell Tower fire and then again reviewed following the Melbourne fire. The first audit identified the building’s cladding as being a “Low Risk” with the second review audit identifying the cladding as being a “Moderate Risk” of fire. Our internal alarm bells are now ringing!
With Donna and I having extensive experience in the safety space throughout the mining industry, when it came to risk assessing our safety in an apartment versus a stunning view of a river, I can honestly share with you that we were considering still purchasing this property. Our emotional attachment to a view was overriding the safety of ourselves as well as our family and friends that would stay and visit. It wasn’t until we sat at a cafe one morning, looked at each other and said, why does this even deserve any extensive thought over what our decision will be, it has to be HELL NO!
It has been interesting to say the least as we reflect on our process and journey that saw us put all our safety values on the back burner (pardon the pun) and all for what…that view of the river. No view is worth the potential life of my wife and I, our family and friends or in the future, our grandkids, who would be sleeping over. Imagine having our grandkids sleep over only to have a fire break out and to be trapped in a building knowing that we had made this choice. We knew the risk, we knew the scenarios that we played out in our heads but allowed our emotions to put a view over life. It makes us cringe thinking about it.
So, the next time you’re doing a task at work or making an important decision in your private life, be mindful and in tune with your emotions. Take time to pause, reflect and stay the path of your true values and not be misguided by our emotions.
Safety always has to come first.
