26 May 2009

Don't die this winter

| johnboy
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Simon Corbbell, the NRMA, and the fire brigade are running a winter home fire safety campaign here’s the skinny:

    — Install smoke alarms and regularly check they are working;
    — Never ever leave cooking unattended;
    — Everyone knows how to safely exit your home if there is a fire;
    — Keep curtains, tablecloths and bedding away from portable heaters;
    — Keep wet clothing at least 1 metre from heaters or fireplaces and never leave unattended;
    — Clean the lint filter every time before you use a clothes dryer;
    — Check electric blankets for damage or frayed cords and never leave them on when no one is home;
    — Only use one appliance per power point and switch off when not in use; and
    — Keep candles away from flammable materials and always extinguish them before going to bed.

All fine except the second last. Like hell.

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MWF said :

However, Workchoices is still in existence and there are one or two little paragraphs in the Workchoices legislation that precluded any action my partner might have taken.

Bloody work choices. I seriously want to punch Howard for that one.

I hope you can find an alternative attack point!

My neighbours in-laws built a house in Dunlop, only to have it to burn to the ground while they were at work/school, because they left a cordless drill/pack charging. Apparently overheating battery packs that have been charged beyond the required charge time are “time bombs”. Be vigilant

What a terrible story MWF – really brings home the nightmare that a housefire can be. I hope that everything works out for you, and that you are able to rebuild your home and lives in the aftermath of such a horrible event. But your story has certainly inspired me to re-check the existing smoke alarms and maybe buy a few more, so thank you.

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy7:29 am 28 May 09

…the cheque came within 5 business days. Slow morning for me…

VYBerlinaV8_the_one_they_all_copy7:28 am 28 May 09

I would love to meet just one person that ever had a good experience with an insurance company. Then I would cross over.

I’ve had several good experiences with insurance, relating mainly to car issues. I’ve had three major claims over the years for accidents, and on each occasion the car was either being fixed or booked to be fixed within 3 days. On one occasion I had a cheque for the full ‘written off’ value of the vehicle (which was more than the vehicle was worth.

Couldn’t have been better.

Westpac has a campaign?

Kods said :

Is it just me or is this all just a little bit common sense?

It’s reading like viral marketing as an accompaniment to the current Westpac campaign!

Thanks guys. I fully expected to be the flame of the week or nutter of the week or something similar 🙁 only because, by now, with all the aftermath of the fire, we are kind of used to being screwed over by the Universe, “God” and whoever else thinks they can screw with us.

All your info was great and yes, we had it at the time. However, Workchoices is still in existence and there are one or two little paragraphs in the Workchoices legislation that precluded any action my partner might have taken.

We have other action up our sleeves though 😉 and in progress. All is not lost. I wish this site had a private message function so I could talk freely with some of you. It does my heart some good to read and feel some support.

And it’s a combination of needing to know what services are out there and needing a cup of tea and someone to listen, maybe even let you have a cry while you’re being brave for the rest of the world.

Legal aid and places like that can always help, but it does make it hard if you don’t know where to go. When things start going pear shaped all at once it’s hard for that logical side to kick in and get into action.

Yes. It’s almost like it would be nice if there was a community counselor at the local health centre where you could just walk in and go, “My husband’s been sacked! I’m scared and I don’t know what to do,” or “Somebody’s just told me my child has a developmental delay. My world is falling apart, and I don’t know who to turn to or where to get help.”

Who knows? Maybe there is for all I know.

If you believe you have been sacked on discriminatory grounds you can lodge an application with the AIRC (Australian Industrial Relations Commission).

This has to be done within 21 days, so if you think something is a bit funny, do some research, get your facts straight and call for help!

Some helpful links and contact numbers are:

http://www.workplaceauthority.gov.au
http://www.wo.gov.au (Workplace Ombudsman)
http://www.airc.gov.au (Australian Industrial Relations Commission)
http://www.workplaceauthority.gov.au/tools-resources/workplace-relations-law.asp

Workplace Infoline 1300 363 264
AIRC 1300 799 675

Some important tips:
If you have a collective agreement (CA) – read it and understand it
If you don’t have a CA, find out your award, read about the minimum guaranteed conditions in the workplace (the links above will help with this)
Get help if you need it. Support is available on the above links and numbers and larger organisations have HR sections which are more then willing to talk to you if you have a problem.

I wish I was more of an IR guru now so I had more answers for everyone, but it’s important to know where to get help if they need it 🙂

Sounds pretty crap treatment MWF. Name and shame the bastard company, so we know not to p•ss on it if we see it on fire. Might even wander in there and accidentally run several appliances off the one power point, including several heaters placed near their curtains, table clothes, and wet clothing.

MWF my heart broke reading your post- wishing your family all the best!

What should someone like MWF do to get help in this situation, Kods?

My thoughts are with you and your family MWF! I hope things start looking up!

I am deeply angered and absolutely astounded that your partner’s manager could disregard industrial relations legalisation so obviously! Your partner would have been well entitled to challenge their dismissal!

Taken from: http://www.workplaceauthority.gov.au/

Unfair dismissal: when an employer’s dismissal of an employee is harsh, unjust or unreasonable. For example, when they fail to give an employee any warning about their workplace performance before dismissing them.

Understandably this would have been hard to do after such trauma, but it does upset me the amount of times this kind of ‘Management’ occurs and people let it slide, either because they don’t know any better, or because they have been though a traumatic experience.

Everyone please know your rights in the workplace – thoughtless management will assume you don’t know any better and will rip you off as much as they possibly can unless you don’t let them get away with it!

That’s terrible MWF!!

That is so terrible, MWF.

I would love to meet just one person that ever had a good experience with an insurance company. Then I would cross over.

One thing’s for certain … next time I need H-E-L-P I won’t even bother going to the effort of lifting the phone. I pretty much needed to go and seek H-E-L-P after their friendly investigators H-E-L-P-fully compounded the trauma of the incident.

It makes my blood boil that people like this manager are allowed to get away with this behaviour, but at this point in your lives I understand that you have enough on your plate and probably just want to focus on finding another job and getting your lives back together.

My very best wishes to you and your family, MWF. My heart goes out to your poor little kids for what they’ve been through, and I dearly hope that their health doesn’t suffer as a result.

“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”
Charles Austin Beard

barking toad9:00 am 27 May 09

Smoke alarms don’t usually work until they get smoke

Having survived a house fire recently we are very vigilant. This is my experience of surviving a house fire.

The trauma of having to flee my home in my underwear with a jumper thrown over the top (inside out and back to front, mind) in the middle of the night with two small children running behind me – all of us barefoot, while my partner nearly died inside our home trying to save it wasn’t much fun. Having the mains power blow when the fire caught inside the ceiling space in the midst of a call to 000 (on the house phone powered by electricity) wasn’t much fun either. Banging on multiple neighbours’ doors in the middle of the night begging for help to re-call 000 while half dressed with two wailing children behind me and my home ablaze wasn’t good.

Then we lived through months of a burned out kitchen with nowhere to cook, living on takeaway and sandwiches and whatever we could cook in a Freecycled microwave. We had burned out holes in the ceiling with black burned out bits of probably asbestos type ceiling batts floating through the house. All the while fighting the insurance company to pay out and fix our home. Fighting every day. For at least 2-3 months

Let’s top the entire episode off with my partner being sacked for poor work performance some weeks later. When he asked why he was never informed that his performance was slacking he was told “Well you had the fire…..” Meaning what? I knew you were having a hard time in your personal life so I said nothing? Prior to the fire my partner had a wonderful performance review.

Our house fire has apparently cost us more than higher insurance premiums, trauma, stress and illness – my partner suffered smoke inhalation and burns and an injury when he fell trying to contain the fire. An uncaring absolute bastard of a Manager has caused further trauma to our family by ignoring the trauma and stress our family has suffered by sacking my partner for “daring” to have had his life fucked over by a house fire. Instead of speaking to my partner or maybe organising some trauma counselling or
maybe suggesting he seek further medical care, this manager just sacked my partner.

So now our life is even further in the shit.

Don’t think a house fire cannot happen to you. Bad shit happens to good people all the time. Oh and guess what? The smoke alarm in the sleeping area of our home didn’t even tinkle until the door leading to the sleeping area was opened so we could escape. However the rest of our home was filled with smoke and the kitchen ablaze.

stonedwookie10:38 pm 26 May 09

how about doubling powerboards?
i got alot of gadgets

The second last is a joke. That said, don’t chain double adapters, use a powerboard instead. They mostly have overload protection and many have individual switches. Safety and convenience.

James-T-Kirk said :

It is sad that people *need* to be reminded about the common sense stuff…

Clean up your garbage at the food court – don’t leave the table full of rubbish!

Not sad. Just a recognition that we are all human, and some of us not as infallible as others. That’s why we have sayings such as Familiarity breeds contempt which doesn’t mean one should have contempt with what one is not familiar with; human frailty .

Back on topic please people

don’t die this winter.

wait til summer when your rotting corpse will reek far more quickly.

and don’t eat rotting corpses, kids, or roll across the freeway with a blindfold on…

[note: actually, i don’t want anyone to just go dying, so don’t. ok?]

PM said :

S4anta said :

speaking of pants, do not place your tesicles in a blender

So you’ve started early today I see 🙂

Well at least i dont carry my id and security pass like a suppository kind sir.

S4anta said :

speaking of pants, do not place your testicles in a blender

Always use someone else’s?

S4anta said :

speaking of pants, do not place your tesicles in a blender

So you’ve started early today I see 🙂

James-T-Kirk4:03 pm 26 May 09

It is sad that people *need* to be reminded about the common sense stuff…

Clean up your garbage at the food court – don’t leave the table full of rubbish!

James-T-Kirk4:02 pm 26 May 09

mmmm freezer

No matter how tempting it is, if you want to keep your taste buds, dont lick the inside of your freezer…

S4anta said :

speaking of pants, do not place your tesicles in a blender

are we talking lopping, here?

speaking of pants, do not place your tesicles in a blender

Beserk Keyboard Warrior3:45 pm 26 May 09

If you smell a gas leak, refrain from smoking, and be good to your mum. Don’t die this winter.

Don’t put hot dogs in fax machine, even the big brother kind.

And wash your hands. And throw away used tissues.

Holden Caulfield2:48 pm 26 May 09

Don’t run with scissors.

Can I next to the pool please Dad?

Love it postal!

As a footnote…

Don’t ever use fire to fight zombies! If there is anything worse then a plague of the undead, it’s a flaming plague of undead.

Always decapitate zombies, but please don’t burn their bodies in slow-combustion stoves as this generates a lot of smokey air pollution in the valley.

😛

Next thing you know they will be telling us not to accept candy from strangers and not to stick your fingers in power sockets…. I mean relaly what is the world coming to… luckly these rules only apply to winter…. (lol)

I know Sk, it’s almost scary the things I hear come out of peoples mouths…

Common sense is the rarest one of all, Kods.

Is it just me or is this all just a little bit common sense?

Thanks. A reminder doesn’t go astray.

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