AWU MEMBER STORY - Safety and Strength

Jeff Jenkins has been working solidly since he was fourteen years old. He joined the Slaters and Tilers union when starting out in the roof tiling business and as years went on Jeff worked in construction, concrete and finally in asphalt, where he stayed for almost thirty five years. Jeff is a proud AWU member and I was keen to speak to him about his workplace accident and to hear his story.

“I loved going to work.” Jeff said proudly, I asked him to tell me about July 27th, 2017. This is a date Jeff Jenkins will always remember. In 2017 Jeff went to work, and like any other day he got up early and headed to meet his workmates for their shift. The job was asphalting a stockyard, close to finishing for the day and well into the afternoon things began to go wrong. In Jeff’s words “the asphalt was at a good depth and I was happy with how it was all being laid out.” As he went to kick the chain up a bit, the hydraulic arm came out, and Jeff was caught. He was being pinned to the machine with the hydraulics crushing his body, the arm itself was still operating. While all this was happening Jeff was trying the main control panel, but the hydraulic controls were overriding anything that he was telling the panel to do. His workmates at this stage had run to assist him but were understandably panicked and in shock. Jeff tells me he yelled up to the foreman operating and he saw the stress on his face, it was at that point that Jeff thought “this was it.”

In the shock and panic Jeff still can’t say how they got the hydraulic arm back in place and the crushing to stop. But somehow he said they got it back in and he was holding his chest, “ not a nice feeling at all”. I ask Jeff if he can describe the pain or was he in too much shock? He asks me “have you ever been crushed?” No I said a bit embarrassed that I even asked him such a silly question. “Suppose you’d have to go through it, not nice, you have that much pressure from the hydraulic arm, ya’ know how much square inch poundage is on that?” He goes on to tell me “I felt like I had done something, and the guys wanted me to lay down, but instead he told them if I am not coughing up any blood and keep watching myself, I should be okay and we’ll finish the job.” Jeff took some panadol and carried on. With a piece of four by four timber the machine was bent back into place and they carried on with the job. Jeff said it bent easier than it did crushing him.

The intensity in hydraulic equipment is extremely high, it is used to shift and support large loads. Serious crush injuries can result from normal movement of hydraulic equipment. When the systems fail, falling loads or unexpected moving parts are acutely unsafe. Struggling with deep breaths Jeff went home at the end of his shift, he used every ice pack in the house throughout the weekend, even laying on them.

Unbelievably Jeff went to work that following Monday, he said he didn’t feel too bad until he started to work. The pain felt worse than on the day it happened. Only then did Jeff go to a doctor to find out more. The damage was vast, Jeff had shoulder and neck injuries that lead into his arm and caused numbness, pins and needles and an extreme heat where he said “you feel like you’re on fire, and your arm is full of lead.” Jeff is doing rehab on the neck and spinal areas, in an attempt at avoiding serious surgery.

In medical lingo he had crushed C4,C5 and C6 (located in the lower cervical spine). Initial trauma from the hydraulic arm pinning Jeff down created more stress on the neck and spine resulting in something called spondylosis. People with similar injuries to Jeff’s have not been so lucky to remain alive.

In 2019 the New Daily reported on Australia’s most dangerous jobs. Data from Safe Work Australia revealed the most dangerous industry in Australia was agriculture, forestry and fishing, with those workers most likely to be killed on the job. Construction, which includes roads and traffic, was not far behind in the statistics. Safety is paramount and Jeff tells me that injuries can come from machines being updated and tinkered with, to personal error or just bad luck. Jeff is a talkative, informative man who has a lot to say on the health and safety of the asphalters. Fumes are an issue, along with toxic dust, he said at times they feel like lab rats, “you wonder what you’ll end up with later in life, these guys work day in day out at the coalface.”

Initially the trauma of the injuries lasted about five months and Jeff assumed the pain he was experiencing was normal. After thirty five years on the job it was a difficult transition, instead of going to work he was taking his granddaughter to school and spending more time at home. A basic task like washing his car can have implications on his health that last longer and can take up to a week to recover. It has been a long journey of rehab and mental strength for Jeff, he has a positive outlook on life and is thankful to see his granddaughter grow up.

Before I know it an hour has flown by talking to Jeff though he tells me “we haven’t even touched the surface.” Something tells me we’ll be hearing more from Jeff Jenkins in the future.