James ‘Woody’ Wood was excellent in his presentation to our Year 10 cohort in PDHPE.
The main message: Your actions have consequences and be very aware of the choices you make in life. One small mistake can have ongoing consequences that can impact you own and your family/friends lives.
People with disabilities are still normal people trying to live a normal life and navigating life as best they can with their disability. They still can achieve most if not all things able bodied people can.
Our students responded with great positivity and it challenged their thinking around safety and making wise choices.
James Wood – Safety Speaker
James Wood is an internationally recognised award winning Safety Speaker.
His passion for sharing Safety Messages and educating employees, employers and management teams on the real impact of workplace injury has seen him share his message from the workshop floor to the boardroom.
Woody as he is often known uses his experience of having a workplace injury and the knowledge gained from visiting workplaces for over 20 years to share the ways that we can all prevent workplace injury and fatality.
The impact of hearing James Wood speak is something that will stay with you for a long time.
James has won numerous awards for his work in the field of Safety Information and was recently acknowledged by his peers at the Hunter Safety Awards as the 2016 WHS Champion.
“This doesn’t happen to me!”…. that was what went through my head when the doctor told me I had broken my back & damaged my spinal cord.
I was just getting to a great stage in my life, living independently, great job & career options, nice car & a couple of motorbikes. Good friends and a steady relationship.
Choices
All of this changed because I made some wrong CHOICES while doing a simple job at work!
I was airlifted to hospital and then spent the next 3 months in hospital and then a rehabilitation centre for another 6 months.
It’s quite ironic that it took nine months as I basically had to learn to live all over again!
Everything that I used to be able to do easily now took much more time and planning, getting dressed, showering & personal care, I had to learn to drive a car using hand controls, and many other things that we all take for granted.
And then there are the things that I can’t do anymore. I can’t change a light bulb, I can’t push a lawn mower and it is almost impossible to take the rubbish bin out for collection.
One of the things I really struggled with after my accident was having to ask people to help me to do things that I should be able to do for myself! You have no idea how that affects your pride!