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Brendan: Welcome to Episode 23 of the Australian Health and Safety business podcast. I’m Brendan Torazzi, the host of the show. Today, I’m with Dallas Adams from DC Adams Group. Is that right Dallas?
Dallas: That’s it. Thank you.
Brendan: Thanks for coming on the show. It was just yesterday that we had a chat. You’ve got a really a heartfelt story I feel that perhaps I’ll let you introduce what has happened over the last 15 or so years for you and how you’ve turned this into a massive positive for other.
Dallas: It’s pretty heartfelt. What I have felt in the last 15 years now is two workplace fatalities. I’ve actually experienced four in my time in construction that I’ve been involved in and personally involved in too. Out of those four, two of them were family members. From those two family members I’ve developed and now presenting a presentation I call Why Safety Matters? I’ve got a background that spans over 25 years in mining, underground construction, tunnelling and I’ve also got an electrical trade.
Brendan: If we rewind back because you weren’t originally in safety were you? It was these incidents that have kind of propelled you down this avenue.
Dallas: It’s only been the last two years since developing Why Safety Matters but I think when you say I haven’t been in safety, when you’re in construction safety is there. I think everyone is involved in safety not just the safety professionals or safety department. It’s just broaden in different ways I supposed. What I believe and specially my involvement in construction over 25 years coming in 25 years ago, it wasn’t probably as strong as it is today but saying that awareness was pretty full on but then the last two years I actually went back to school. I did my cert 4 and my diploma in work health and safety purely because of what I was talking about, what I had experienced and wanting to learn more about it and to understand what is involved. That is where I have come with my safety side even though what I present is a safety story but it’s more a personal story that I wanted to get out there and share which is what I call Why Safety Matters.
Brendan: I think you raised a really good point that it’s not an us and them mentality when it comes to safety. It’s really everybody has to play their part to make sure that workplaces are safe.
Dallas: I didn’t make that up. I think that was just how it was for me. You’re always told to slow down, look out and look up and things like that. That was really our way of communicating when it came to safety. You had your safety advisors and everything like that which were good but you never really went to them as much as you do now in my experience way back then but now I believe they would be the most important part of the construction process now what they have to do from what I’ve learned and what I’ve experienced. They play a real critical role.
Brendan: Are you comfortable sharing exactly what happened with those two fatalities? From what we spoke about yesterday that to me is the story that really brings it home to every worker that I think a lot of people go through life thinking that oh, this stuff could never happen to me. When it does happen to you that is when it becomes super real.
Dallas: This could never happen to me. It was my family. I’ve been involved in this industry for so long. My father was a tunneler and a miner. My grandfather was a tunneler and a miner. My brother and I were third generation. We were born into this industry. To think that my brother and my father lost their lives in the industry. It was hard. It took a toll on me. It took a toll on my family. Developing Why Safety Matter was through emotions and what I had experienced and through that pain but what I had done with it was I turned it into something that I believed was a positive. I looked at a new direction to go with what I had experienced.
My father’s accident was involved on a tunnelling project in 2017. My father was struck by a pressurized water pipe that dislodged from its bracket. His injuries from that bracket that broke and that pipe that hit him unfortunately the injuries were very sever and my father lost his life not long after he was struck. My brother’s accident was in 2004 when he was working in an underground mining project. He was operating a tunnel boring machine and was killed in a rock fall. Both those accidents they definitely had their toll on me. The outcomes and the consequences were the same but what I had done with both of them was totally different.
My brother’s accident 2004, I pretty much bottled it up and I couldn’t speak about it. I had to go back to work to maintain my lifestyle and I just kept it quiet in my own mind which affected me personally yet I had to get back to work and carry on with what I was doing.
Brendan: How old were you at that time?
Dallas: I was 29. I just started a young family. We were living in Sydney. I was working on a tunnelling project in Sydney and my brother was working in a mine in the Hunter Valley. He was actually working with my father at the time. My father and my brother were working together and his accident occurred when they were on shift together. From that time to my father’s accident, I didn’t speak about what was involved or anything. I definitely wasn’t doing what I’m doing now. My brother’s accident, I struggled to come to terms with it. I couldn’t accept what had happened. I struggled with grief. I was very angry and things like that which took a toll over that time. I didn’t actually know how to talk about it to be honest as well. I was told about getting help and posters were there and all that sort of stuff but I was probably in that frame of mind that you didn’t want to talk about it. It hurt that much to be able to talk about it.
Brendan: What about your dad at that time? Did he get support from where he was working? What was the follow up from that?
Dallas: To be honest, no. He was very similar. He had come from that old school mentality as well. I definitely saw that change in him that is for sure. It was instant. He changed. His moods. Things that he was doing naturally became pretty hard. He was quite good at social events and drinking and having a good time to just shutting up shop, not wanting to go out or do things that he used to do. I thought in my mind that is what is he did as well so that is pretty much I went about it as well thinking this is just what you do which took a toll on all of us to be honest. It wasn’t easy. I supposed ones that were around us they took the brunt of it as well.
Brendan: I can feel it but I can’t imagine what that would have been like.
Dallas: That is why I developed Why Safety Matters and I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing over the last two years. You can only imagine when you read about it which I had done prior to. I have been involved or been around mining incidents and stuff like that too or read in the papers. We had toolboxes on someone that has been killed in the mine and all that sort of stuff but until you’re involved in it that it’s hard but what I wanted to do was to bring that reality out as much as I could or the best way that I could. I thought by developing something and then going out and physically doing it myself would not only help others but would also help me which it has. It has definitely helped me to be able to do what I’m doing now.
Brendan: Share the story with many and lighten the load and also make a difference at the same time. It’s amazing.
Dallas: I think helping people too also is a positive and that helps you knowing that you can help someone else is also taken that pressure off me bottling it all up. That is what I had been doing for 13 years prior to my father’s accident 2017 where I wasn’t doing any of that. I was bottling it up and the pressure was mounting and mounting over that time. My father’s accident that was something that came out from left field. You’re never ready for anything like this but I had to step up the best way that I could. When I talk you can definitely see the emotions of how it affected me but to be able to contain them is hard. For me, I had to.
Brendan: That was the trigger turning point that you went okay, I’m going to turn this into a positive and help myself and really spread a message that I’m sure without a doubt is changing a lot of lives and actually getting cut through with people that don’t take safety as seriously as they need to.
Dallas: I’ve been presenting it for the last two years across Australia and New Zealand. The feedback has been great and very inspiring for me to hear. That was the trigger and the turning point for me in my life. That is the direction that I went down. It actually encouraged me to find out more which is why I went and studied work health and safety. That was just the start of many doors that I wanted to open because I think our industry gives you a lot of opportunities but you still have to go and look for those doors if you really want them. As brutal and as tragic as my father’s accident was it actually got me off my little comfort zone and started knocking on these doors which has been amazing. It’s something that I would love to encourage other people to do without going through this event or this tragic event that I’ve gone through.
That is how I want to deliver it because there is so much to learn and I just started off with safety because of my message but the direction that I’m heading is along the lines of trying to learn as much as I can, spread a good word, tell people that construction is important for not only you as a job but for so many other people in the way they live and the way they live and the way they want to live for Australia and for a city and for everything like that. Bring the bigger picture of what we’re doing so you’d really feel proud of doing what you’re doing.
Brendan: I wanted to focus in on the last two years. How did you open that first talk because obviously that was probably one of the hardest ones to open? How did you get started with Why Safety Matters?
Dallas: I’m actually originally from New Zealand. My father was working on a Sydney project. I lived in Brisbane. My father’s accident was in Sydney. We had to come to Sydney and we had to go through all the coroner and all that sort of stuff straight after dad’s accident. When I had come from my job and all that down to Sydney, I naturally met the company, the management and everything like that. They were there waiting for our family to turn up. During that time from Brisbane to Sydney my head was spinning. To get that phone call not only the first time but the second time to get that phone call my head was spinning but because I had been in the industry so long. I had mates that were on their project or I had cousins, relations and all that sort of working on these projects as well. My phone was ringing red hot minutes after the word got out after my father’s accident. My head was spinning. We got flown down to Sydney, met and taken to the hospital.
My initial thoughts coming from 13 years of being angry and depressed about my brother to wanting to come down there and go what the hell to meeting a man at the airport who had driven from that project through Sydney traffic to wait in the airport to meet a family that he is going to meet for the first time with this sort of news. I stepped off that plane and I felt sorry for him to be honest. I felt he didn’t want this. No one wants this but this is what has happened.
What they did from thereon and I take my hat off to them. You can’t plan for this. It blew me away. That period of that time there is a process that you go through. We went through the hospital. We viewed my father and all that sort of stuff. Then from there he goes to the coroner and you go through that stage. You’re waiting. You’re waiting there. With our culture and what we’re from and what we believe in we’ve got to make plans. Thirteen years prior we had to do the same thing. Our plans back then were to take my brother back to New Zealand where we’re from. In this case I didn’t even live in Sydney. I thought about it. I have spoken to my mother and I said, I don’t want to do that I’m afraid. I need to do something here, right here. My friends that I’ve been with for the last 20 odd years in these projects here. I want to do something here. She agreed. She said okay, let’s do it.
I had my father serviced in Sydney. I was told, I didn’t count them but it was close to 2000 people that turned up. I had a eulogy and I spoke but I was blown away with the support. I think from that moment if I can send a message to 2000 people on that day. What can I do for the industry? I didn’t realize what was involved. I almost jumped the gun. I thought at the time like the weekend after hang on, shit. The support was really, I had 2000 people at my father’s service supporting me but I had thousands of others out there as well. I consider myself lucky. The project that my father worked on, the company, they opened the door and said, Dallas there is opportunity here if you wanted to do something and I did.
We started it August 7, 2017 I did my first presentation of Why Safety Matters. I’ve done some hard things in my life but it was one of the hardest things that I ever had to do but it was unreal. It was a relief to finally get it out and to open up about my brother’s accident because I haven’t been able to do that in any shape, way or form, anything prior to that but to finally get it out was life saving for me. From thereon they networked for me. They helped me in so many ways. Then our industry as big as it can be it’s quite small and unique. Once the word got out that I was doing this presentation, I was talking about my brother and my father wanting to help and build an awareness sort of side of my story and my messages. It just opened up for me. The doors were opened. It’s being ongoing for the last two years now.
Brendan: Is it a full time thing for you now?
Dallas: It has been. I still miss what I was doing. I didn’t leave what I was doing because I didn’t like it. I actually loved it. I loved every part of it but I just felt this was probably more important in my life at this stage. It made me feel good which is what I wanted to do. Everyone wants to feel good about something in their life and this was making me feel good. I had the support. The network was great and I was meeting so many other people within the industry that I would have never have met any other way which have been great for me as well opening those doors. Safety has been a highlight but there’s other opportunities that I’d like to go from there. One of them for me is training, mentoring, the educational side of our industry. Educating young kids or even people that have come from a different background but want to give tunnelling or construction a go and giving them the heads up of what I’ve experienced without scaring them but then encouraging them. Giving them that insight or that heads up of what it’s like but then putting a big of gloss in them so that they’re excited about what they’re going into and changing a few things that could possibly better the industry. Putting my own little touch on a few things that hopefully will help the future and things like that.
Brendan: It sounds like you’ve been put in a unique position to really make a difference.
Dallas: When someone asks me what do I want to do that was the first thing that I said. I want to make a difference. I probably didn’t know back then what sort of difference but now two years later chipping away at little things that have opened up other avenues. It’s definitely making a difference.
Brendan: How long does the talk go for when you give this presentation or are there few different variations?
Dallas: Not really. If a company wanted me for a conference obviously they’ve got a scheduled and I’ve been given half an hour. I don’t like delivering a message and taking bits out. If I gave a full presentation you’ve got to give me an hour because you’ll feel the full effect of it. That time is every part of my presentation there’s a journey within the presentation itself. There’s so much to absorb. The question and answers are just as important too. Even if there’s so much to absorb people will sit there wanting to ask me something but they’ve got to word it the right way because it’s so emotional and so effective. After that hour, I stay around. That is probably the most important part for me. I don’t want to leave that project or that conference knowing that people actually wanted to talk to me about certain things one on one or face to face or privately which is beautiful. That is brilliant but a 45 minute presentation you’ll still get the same effect. Half an hour I don’t want to rush things.
Brendan: It sounds like 45 minutes is the minimum. I can only imagine the amount of questions that you’re going to have. You could do probably half an hour of questions.
Dallas: It can be but obviously there’s different speakers. Like I said, different setups. Conferences obviously they’ve got the spaces which fair enough. The thing I like about them is you have those interval breaks and you can always come and talk to me during them. Projects, when I get a toolbox talks or meetings like that, pre-starts and all that. I can stay for as long as I want or whenever the project wants me to.
Brendan: Thank you so much for sharing your story today with us. If listeners want to get in contact with you how is the best way to do that?
Dallas: I have a website www.WhySafetyMatters.com.au.
Brendan: I guess that is probably the easiest way and LinkedIn. Thank you so much. If you’ve been enjoying the show don’t forget to subscribe and share it with friends. See you next time.
TRANSCRIPT
Brendan Torazzi
This is an ohs.com.au production Welcome to Episode 23 of the Australian Health and Safety business podcast on Brendan Torazzi, the host of the show, and today I'm with Dallas Adams from DC Adams group. Is that right? Dallas?
Unknown Speaker
Yes, that's it. Thank you,
Brendan Torazzi
beauty. Well, thanks for coming on the show. It's just yesterday that we had a chat. Now you've got a, a really a heartfelt story. I feel that, you know, perhaps I'll let you introduce what's happened over the last 15 or so years for you and how you've turned this into a massive positive for other people.
Unknown Speaker
Kind of thanks, Brendan. Yeah, there's pretty heartfelt. What, what I have experienced in the last 15 years now is to workplace fatalities. I've actually experienced four in my time and construction that I've been involved in and personally involved into. And out of that, out of those four, two of them were family members. So from those two family members I, I developed in, I'm now presenting a presentation I call why safety matters. But I've I've got a background that spans over 25 years in mining, underground construction tunneling. And I'm also I've also got an electrical trade. So
Brendan Torazzi
it's an amazing thing. If we were walking back how you sort of first, because you weren't originally in safety, were you it was the this incidents that have kind of propelled you down this this avenue?
Unknown Speaker
Definitely. Brandon. Yeah. So it's only been the last two years since developing why safety matters. But I think when you say, have, I haven't been in safety, when you're in construction, you know, safety is there. And I think everyone's involved in safety, not just the safety professionals or safety department. It's just brought in different ways, I suppose, and what I what I believe, you know, in especially my involvement in construction, over 25 years, you know, coming in 25 years ago, you know, it wasn't probably as strong as it is today. But saying that, you know, awareness was pretty full on. But then, the last two years, I actually went back to school, or went to TAFE. And I did my Cert for him with deployment work, health and safety, purely because of what I was talking about what I experienced, and wanting to learn more about it, and to understand what's involved. So that's where I have come with, with my safety side, even though the what I presented as a safety story, but it's more a personal story, that I wanted to get out there and share, you know, what I call why safety matters,
Brendan Torazzi
I think you raise a really good point that it's not an us and them mentality when it comes to safety, it's really everybody has to play their part, to make sure that workplaces are safe.
Unknown Speaker
Definitely. And, you know, I, you know, I didn't make that up, I think that was just how it was for me. You know, you're always told to, you know, slow down, you know, look out and, you know, look up and things like that. So that was really our, our way of, you know, communicating when it came to safety. You had your safety advisors, and everything like that, which were good. But you never really went to them. As much as you do now, you know, in my, in my experience, way back then, but now, you know, I believe they would be the most important part of the construction process. Now, you know, what they have to do? And from what I've learned, and what I've experienced, you know, they play a real critical role.
Brendan Torazzi
So are you comfortable sharing exactly what happened with those two fatalities? Just from what we what we spoke about yesterday. That, to me is the story that really brings it home to every worker that, you know, I think a lot of people go through life thinking that this stuff could never happen to me. Yes. And when it when it does happen to you, that's when it becomes super real.
Unknown Speaker
No, definitely. And definitely, and, you know, I was the same as everyone else, this could never happen to me. And, you know, it was my family, especially, you know, been involved in this industry for so long, my father was a toddler and a minor, my grandfather was a tunneler, and a minor. So, you know, my brother and I were third generation. So we were born, you know, into this industry, to think that, you know, my brother and my father, you know, lost their lives in the industry. You know, it was hard, you know, and it took a toll on me, it took a toll on my family. So developing why safety matters, you know, was through emotions and what I had experienced, and through that pain, but what I had done with it was, you know, I turned it into something that I believed was a positive, you know, and I looked at a new direction to go with what I did what I had experienced. Yeah, so my father's accident was involved on a timing project, in 2007. And my father was struck by a pressurized water pipe that dislodged from its bracket, and his injuries from that, from that bracket, they're broken that pipe, they're dead. Unfortunately, you know, the injuries were very severe. And my father lost his life. Not long after he was struck, my brother's accident was in 2004, when he was working in a underground mining project, and he was operating the tunnel boring machine, and was killed in Iraq for in 2004. So, you know, both those accidents, they definitely had the the toll on me the difference with the outcomes, and the consequences were the same, but what I'd done with with both of them was totally different, you know, my brother's accident 2004 I pretty much bottled it up. And I couldn't speak about it. You know, I had to go back to work to maintain my lifestyle, and I just, I just, you know, kept it quiet in my own mind, which, you know, affected me personally. Yet I, you know, had to get back to work and, and carry on with what I was doing, how I did that.
Brendan Torazzi
How old are you at that time dollars.
Unknown Speaker
I was 29. So I just started Yeah, my young family were were living in Sydney, I was working on a on a tunneling project in Sydney, and my brother was working in a mine in the Hunter Valley, who was actually working with my father at the time. So my father and my brother were working together. And his accident occurred on shift when they were on shift together. So from that, that time to my father's accident, I never really I didn't speak about what was involved or anything, I'll definitely wasn't doing what I was doing what I'm doing now. My brother's accident, you know, I struggled to come to terms of it, I couldn't accept, you know, what had happened. You know, I struggled with grief, I was very angry. And things like that, which which took a toll. You know, over that time. I didn't actually know how to talk about it, to be honest, as well, you know, I was told about, you know, getting help, and, you know, and posters, were there and all that sort of stuff. But, you know, I was probably the in that frame of mind that, you know, you didn't want to talk about it, and hurt that much to be able to talk about it.
Brendan Torazzi
What about what about your data at that time? Did he get support from wherever he was working? What was the follow up from that?
Unknown Speaker
To be honest, rennen? No, he was very similar. He had come from that old school mentality, as well. Were they you know, I definitely saw the changes and that's for sure. You know, it was it was instant. You know, he, you know, he he changed his moods, as you know, things that he was doing naturally became pretty hard. You know, he was quite good at social social events and you know, and drinking and you know, having a good time to just show Upshot, you know, just not wanting to go out or do things that he used to do. You know, and I thought, you know, in my mind, that's what you did as well. So that's pretty much the way that I went about it as well, thinking, you know, that's just what you do, which, you know, took a toll on all of us to be honest. It wasn't easy. And, you know, I suppose, ones that were around us, you know, they took the brunt of it as well.
Brendan Torazzi
Yeah. I mean, I can't, I can, I can feel it, but it's, well, I can't imagine what that would have been like.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, well, that's why I developed why safety matters, you know, and, and I've been doing what I've been doing over the last two years, because you can only imagine in your read about it. And which I had done, you know, prior to, you know, I'd been involved or been around mining incidents and stuff like that, too. And, you know, read in the papers, or, you know, we had toolboxes on someone that's been, you know, killed in a mine and all that sort of stuff, but until you are involved in it, you know, that's, that's, it's, it's, it's hard. But now, what I wanted to do, was to bring that reality out as much as I could, it was the best way I could, you know, and I thought, by developing something, and then going out, and physically doing it myself, would not only help others, but it would also help me which it has definitely helped me to be able to do what I'm doing now.
Brendan Torazzi
Share the story, share the story with many and, and lighten the load and, and also make a difference at the same time. It's amazing.
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I think helping people to also is a positive, and that, that helps you, you know, knowing that you can help someone else is also taking, you know, that pressure off me, you know, and bottling it all up, you know, and, and that's what I had been doing for 13 years prior to my father's excellent 2017, where, you know, I wasn't doing any of that. So, you know, I was bottling it up and their pressure was mounting and mounting over over that time. My father's accident, well, you know, that was, you know, something out of the out of the, you know, from left field or was never ready for anything like this, you know, and, but you know, I had to step up the best way I could, you know, when I talk, you know, you can definitely see the the emotions of how it affected me, but, you know, to be able to contain them, and is, is hard. You know, and for me, I had to I had to really,
Brendan Torazzi
so did you say that was 2007 or 2017 that that happened?
Unknown Speaker
2017
Brendan Torazzi
All right,
Unknown Speaker
I started two years ago.
Brendan Torazzi
So that was the trigger turning point that you went, Okay, I'm gonna turn this into a positive and, and help myself and really spread a message that I'm sure, without a doubt is changing a lot of changing a lot of lives and actually getting cut through with people that maybe don't take safety as seriously as they need to.
Unknown Speaker
Definitely, definitely, yeah. And, you know, I've been, you know, presenting it for the last two years and across, you know, Australia and New Zealand too. So, you know, the feedbacks been been great and very inspiring for me to, to hear. Yeah, so that was the trigger and the turning point for me and my life, actually, you know, and that's, that's the direction I went down, it actually encouraged me to go and find out more, which is why I went you know, and studied workout and safety. You know, and that was just, you know, start of many things, you know, many doors that I wanted to open, you know, because I think our industry, you know, gives you a lot of opportunities, but you've still got to go and look for those doors if you really really want them and as brutal and as tragic as my father's accident was that actually got me off my little comfort zone and started knocking on these doors which has been amazing. It's it's, it's something that you know, I'd love to encourage other people to do you know, without going through this This event or this tragic event that I've gone through, and that's, that's how I want to deliver it, because, you know, there's so much to learn. And, you know, I just started off with safety because of my message. But, you know, the direction I'm heading is, you know, along the lines of trying to learn as much as I can spread a good word, you know, tell people, you know, that construction is, you know, is important for not only, you know, you as a job, but you know, for so many other people in the way they live, and they, where they want to live in for Australia, and, you know, for a city and everything like that. So bring the bigger picture of what we're doing. So you know, you've really feel proud of doing what you're doing. So,
Brendan Torazzi
so I wanted to focus in Dallas on the on the last two years. How did you how did you open that first door? Because obviously, that was probably one of the hardest ones to open. How did you get started with with my psyche notes?
Unknown Speaker
Okay. Well, I'm actually originally from New Zealand. And my father was working on a Sydney project, and I live in Brisbane, but my father's accident was was in Sydney. So we had to come to Sydney. And we had to go through all the, you know, coroner, and it will that sort of stuff straight after dad's accident. So when I had come from my job, and all that down to Sydney, you know, I naturally met, you know, the company, management and everything like that, you know, they were there waiting for our family to turn up. During that, that time, you know, from Brisbane, to Sydney, you know, my head was spinning, you know, to get that phone call. Not only, you know, the first time, but the second time to get that phone call. My head was spinning. But because I had been in the industry so long, you know, I had mates that were on their project, I had, you know, cousins relations, and all that sort of working on these projects as well. So my phone was ringing, red hot, you know, minutes after, you know, the word got out about my father's accident. So my head was spinning, we got flown down to Sydney, met, you know, and, you know, taken to the hospital. My initial thoughts, you know, coming from 13 years of being angry and depressed about my brother, you know, to wanting to come down there and go, What the hell to meeting a man at the airport, who had driven from that project through Sydney traffic, to wait at an airport to meet a family that he's going to meet for the first time with the sort of news, I stepped off there playing. And I felt sorry for him. To be honest, I felt that, you know, he didn't want this, no one wants this. But this is what's happened. Now, what they did, from there on, you know, I take my hat off to them, you know, you can't plan for this on a Friday night. And that blew me away. So that period of that time, you know, there's there's a, there's a process you go through, you know, we went to the hospital, you know, we viewed my father, you know, you know, and all that sort of stuff. And then from there, he goes to the coroner, and you know, you go through that stage, and then you're waiting, you're obviously you waiting there. And then we'll say our culture and you know, what we're from and what we believe, and we've got to make plans 13 years prior, you know, we had to do the same thing. And our plans back then, were to take my brother back to New Zealand, where we're from. In this case, I didn't even live in Sydney, you know, I wanted to, to, I thought about it, you know, I'd spoken to my mother. And I said, you know, I don't want to do that I'm afraid or I need to do something here, right here. You know, my friends that I've been with, you know, for the last 20 odd years and these projects, you know, I hear, you know, so I want to do something here and she agreed, you know, she was she said yes. Okay, let's do it. So, I had my father service, and Sydney now. I was told I didn't count them. But you know, it was close to 2000 people that turned up. Now I had a eulogy and I spoke but I was blown away. Now with the support
Unknown Speaker
So I think from that moment, I thought, right? If we, if I can send a message to 2000 people on that day, then what can I do? For the industry? Amazing. But I, I didn't realize that what was involved. So I almost jumped again, I thought at the top, I like, the weekend, I was like, Oh, hang on anyone shit. But the support, like I said, the support was there, you know, I had 2000 people at my father's service, supporting me. But I had 1000s of others out there, as well. So, I consider myself lucky, you know, I consider myself lucky. The project that my father worked on the companies, you know, they opened the door and said, Dallas is opportunity here, you know, if you wanted to, to do to do something here, and I did. So we started it. August the seventh out, seventh of August 2017, I did my first presentation of why safety matters. And I tell you, it was I've done some hard things in my life. But you know, it was that there was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. But made it was was unreal, was yeah, it was such a relief to finally get it out. And to open up about my brother's accident, because I hadn't been able to do that in any shape, way or form any anything prior to that. But to finally get it out was was, you know, was life saving for me. From there on. They networked for me, they helped me in so many ways. And then, you know, our industry as big as it can be, it's quite small and unique. And, you know, once the word got out that, you know, I was doing, you know, this presentation, I was talking about, you know, my brother and my father and, you know, wanting to help and build an awareness sort of side of my story in my messages. Yeah, just just opened up for me the doors were opened. And, yeah, it's, it's, it's been ongoing for the last, you know, two years now. So,
Brendan Torazzi
it's amazing. So is it a full time thing for you know, that was, so
Unknown Speaker
it has been, you know, I still miss what I was doing, I didn't leave what I was doing, because I didn't like it, you know, I actually loved it. I loved every part of it, you know. But I just felt, you know, this was probably more important in my life at this stage. You know, and it made me feel good, which is what I wanted to do, you know, everyone wants to feel good about something in their life. And this was making me feel good, you know, you know, I had the support, you know, you know, the network was great, and I was meeting so many other people within the industry that, you know, would have never have met any other way. You know, which has been great for me as well, opening those doors. Safety has been, you know, it's been massive, you know, it's been a highlight, but there's other opportunities that I'd like to go from there. And, you know, one of them, for me is training, you know, mentoring, you know, you know, the educational side of, of our industry, you know, educating, you know, young kids or even people that you know, have come from a different background, but want to, you know, give a timeline or construction, you know, a go, you know, and giving them the heads up of, you know, what I'd experienced without scaring them, but then, you know, encouraging them, you know, have given them that, that insight, or that heads up of what it's like, but then, you know, putting a bit of gloss on them. So they're excited about, you know, what they're going into, you know, and changing a few things that, you know, could possibly better the industry, you know, you know, putting my own little touch on a few things that hopefully that, you know, will help you know, the future, you know, and things like that. So,
Brendan Torazzi
it sounds like you've been put in a unique position to really make a difference.
Unknown Speaker
Yes, well, that was one of my first you know, when when, when someone asked me, What do I want to do and that was the first thing I said I want to make a difference You know, probably didn't know back then what sort of difference? But, you know, now two years later, you know, chipping away at, you know, little things that have opened up, you know, other avenues, you know, and yeah, definitely, definitely making a difference.
Brendan Torazzi
That's brilliant. And then, so just had one more question for Dallas. So how long does the how long does the talk go for when you want to give this presentation? Or are there a few different variations of?
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, they're all not really, like, if a company wanted me for a conference, you know, obviously, they've got a schedule, you know, and I've been given half now. I don't like, I don't like delivering a message, you know, in taking bits out, you know, my presentation, if I gave a full presentation, you've got to give me an hour, you know, because you'll feel the full effect of it. You know, and, you know, that times, you know, as you know, every part of, you know, my presentation, there's a journey within the presentation itself, and there's so much to absorb, you know, and then, you know, the question and answers are just as important to even though, you know, there's so much to absorb, people will sit there wanting to ask me something, but they've just got a word at the right way. Because it's so emotional, and, you know, so effective that, you know, that time after it even you know, after that hour, you know, I stay around. And that's probably the most important part for me, I don't want to leave that project or that conference, knowing that, you know, people actually wanted to talk to me, you know, about certain things, you know, one on one or face to face or, you know, privately, which is beautiful, you know, that's, that's, that's brilliant, you know, but a 45 minute presentation, you'll still get the same effect half an hour. You know, you don't want to rush things.
Brendan Torazzi
Yeah, so it sounds like 45 minutes is the minimum. And then, I mean, I can admit, I can only imagine the amount of questions you might have, like, you could probably half an hour questions. It
Unknown Speaker
can be, you know, obviously, you know, there's other speakers, like I said, different different setups, you know, you know, conferences, obviously, they've got their, their spaces, which is fair enough. And the thing I like about them is that, you know, you have those interval breaks, you know, and you can always come and talk to me during them, you know, projects when I go to toolbox talks or meetings like that, pre starts and all that, you know, I can stay for as long as I want, you know, whatever the project wants me to.
Brendan Torazzi
Yeah, that's brilliant. Okay, Dallas will thank you so much for sharing your story today with us. If people if the listeners want to get in contact with you. How's the best way to do that? Is it
Unknown Speaker
Yeah, I have a website. www dot why safety? matters.com.au
Brendan Torazzi
Yep. I guess that's probably the easiest way why safety? matters.com.au And yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. And LinkedIn problem. All right, Dallas, thank you so much. And yeah, and if you've been enjoying the show, don't forget to subscribe and share it with friends. See you next time.