​This week it's story time! What's been your worst day at work? Has there been a day when nothing has gone right, where everybody seems to be against you and when you just wished the day would end? I've had many days like that over the years, between paranoid conspiracy theorists ringing me up over and over again when I worked for a politician, to my bus catching fire whilst trying to pick up a group of stranded students, there have been some exceedingly long and frustrating days. However, one of the more bizarre days happened in my first job at a Retravision store. Whilst at that stage they were the biggest retailer of electrical appliances, they’ve been replaced by other retailers of electrical appliances and online retailers.
 
It was a Thursday morning and a day like any other. I arrived around 8:20 ready to setup. However, overnight the electrical fuse box at the back of the store had been vandalised. An electrician had arrived and was working on the wiring outside the loading bay. There were only two of us in the shop that morning. The owners and the floor manager were away, leaving us to open and run everything.
 
My colleague told me not to turn anything on until we got clearance from the electrician, so we waited around and several coffees later, the electrician finished his work and it was time to turn everything on. I started upstairs with the wall of TVs. They were the old sort which had a large vacuum tube inside of them, a standard and popular feature of any electrical goods store. One by one I turned the TVs on until the 15 metre wall was illuminated with the flashing of the same mindless daytime TV channel.
 
Just as I finished turning the last one on, I heard a loud hissing noise. Stepping back, I glanced back along the wall and heard another hissing sound, then another and another all coming from different TV sets. Suddenly there was a loud bang! Dark black smoke plumed from the back of a TV at the start of the wall. This was followed quickly by another loud bang! More nostril burning smoke billowed from behind the TVs. There was another hiss, and another each time followed quicker by more loud bangs as the smoke grew denser. TV after TV continued to explode in rapid succession from one end of the wall to the other. Set after set after set hissed and exploded. The room now choked with dark black acrid smoke.
 
I stood before the smouldering ruins of what once was tens of thousands of dollars worth of TVs, now nothing more than lifeless screens. How was I going to explain this one? I nervously walked downstairs to break the news to Barry. Thinking which, out of a staff of nine, three  were named Barry. What are the odds of that? Anyway, the Barry that was there with me that day was one of the salesmen and not the Barry who owned the business who I'd have to explain this to later.
 
“There’s a slight problem upstairs,” I said to Barry, which was probably a tiny understatement as the smoke had set off all the alarms and was so thick it started to linger its way downstairs. Barry quickly dashed up the stairs brandishing a fire extinguisher that was to prove totally and utterly useless. At the top of the stairs he stopped dead in his tracks.
“Oh crap!” he exclaimed, seeing the extent of the problem. “I'd better tell the electrician,” he continued as he dashed back down the stairs and ran out the back.
 
All I could hear from the back of the building was a series of loud swear words, sounding as if they were coming from the electrician. It turned out that somehow instead of leaving the power set on 240 volts, he had somehow upped it to 410 volts, consequently overloading the entire system and blowing the crap out of everything. Thankfully, salesman Barry made the phone call to owner Barry and filled him in on all the details of what had happened. Storeman Barry was out on a job and completely oblivious to anything that had happened. He is not actually part of the story but given that he was also named Barry, he at least deserved to be mentioned.
 
Over $40,000 worth of TVs were destroyed that day, never to transmit another awful daytime TV show again. It took about a week for the caustic smell of burnt electrics to finally make its way out of the upstairs showroom and another week to finally replace all of the televisions that blew up that day. Whilst for me, it wasn't actually that bad a day at work. However, for the electrician, things could only get better.

​Now thankfully this isn't something that happens every day, but it does happen. Given the fact that my first job was at a gun club, shouldn't mean the chances of being shot increases. Whilst many bleeding hearts will tell you the dangers of shooting, it remains one of the safest sports you can do. I've had far worse injuries from hockey than anything else. Mountain biking and skiing are right up there for the most dangerous sports. However, once again, I digress and so back to the topic.
 
I'd got my first job as many teens do at 15. However, it wasn't a fast food joint. It was a shotgun club. My job was to put the skeets on the hopper and fire them up so that people could shoot at them. It was a fun job that paid really well. Most of the time I just sat inside a concrete bunker waiting for the buzzer. When I heard that, I'd load the clay and off it would go. This would be followed by the sound of a shot gun and depending on how good a shot they were, it either shattered the clay pigeon, or it would gracefully sail back down to land in the field nearby. The only real hazard of the job was when a clay shattered inside the bunker as it flew out. You'd be shielding your eyes as you were peppered with tiny ceramic fragments as they ricocheted off the solid concrete walls.
 
The job was fun and often I'd get to shoot a few clays afterwards too, which added to the excitement of it all. One day however, we were on a different range. It was the field and game range. At this range, it wasn't the traditional skeet tower and bunker configuration that we usually worked with, meaning the clay pigeons would be fired from either a tower, or the bunker. Instead, we used a whole range of different styles and sizes of clays which could be bounced along the ground, thrown up into the air, down a gully or every which way possible. It added a remarkably different sort of challenge to it all.
 
That day, I was stationed high up on top of this rock. When I heard the buzzer, I'd fire two clays up over this rock and the shooter would see them as if they were birds through the trees. This was no worries at all as I was high up and protected by a rock. However, the next range over, something was being fired across the gully and unfortunately I found out the hard way that this side wasn't so well protected.
 
There had been a few shots now and then where I'd heard the leaves in trees above getting sprayed through with shot, but thought nothing really of it. I was protected by a rock. It was way above my head as it should be. It was all good. However,  just as I was loading a double clay, I heard a boom and whipping sound coming at me. My arm suddenly stung before a hot painful burning sensation took over. I grabbed my right shoulder with my hand. Looking down I could see blood, lots of blood and my upper arm dimpled with telltale signs of a spray of shotgun pellets.
 
I don't remember screaming or crying in pain. It all felt so surreal. One second I was loading clays. Next I'd been shot in the arm and bleeding profusely. I felt my right hand release the clay hopper and I shot the two clays up into the air. It must have surprised the range officer, as I'd let them go too early. He was on the radio to see what was happening.
 
I said, ‘I think I might need some help. Can you come up?’
I remember the reply was one of grumbles, as if it were so much effort to get up the hill.  (Actually, for most of the club members it was, given the fact that they weren't the fittest group of individuals.)
However, when he got up there and saw the blood, his attitude changed. Thankfully, someone in the club had some idea of first aid and it wasn't long before they stopped the bleeding and revealed some nice neat pellet holes in my right shoulder.
 
Whilst today, I'd be seriously looking into their risk processes and procedures to find out why there was such an horrendous failing in their safety, back then. After I realised that the wounds weren't too deep, the pellets had all been removed and I was ok, it now felt so cool to have been shot at work and as compensation, they gave me and extra $50. All in all, a great day at work. 

It’s back to school for the year and as always, due to the beautifully warm weather, it's one of the most popular times of the year for outdoor ed trips. It's also prime snake season and given the fact that Australia has the world’s greatest collection of deadly snakes, including the deadliest and second deadliest that can kill you within an hour, if you're bushwalking or camping, it's one risk that seriously needs to be addressed.
​
Australia has around 140 different species of snake and about 100 of these are venomous. Yes, we do indeed have the most poisonous creatures in the world. However, out of all of these, only a few are likely to inflict a wound that could kill you. These include, but are not limited to the Inland Taipan (Fierce Snake), Brown snake, Tiger snake, Death adder, Black snake, Copperhead and Rough Scaled snake.
​
Each year in Australia, there are around 3000 snake bite injuries, of which 400 - 500 casualties receive anti-venom. A fact is that snakes don't always envenom their victims and more often than not, it's a dry bite. However, you must assume if bitten, that every bite is venomous and treated as such until otherwise proven. Also be aware that baby snakes are more likely to inject a massive dose of venom into you if they bite, as they don’t have the maturity to decide to venom or not to venom, that's the question on all snake’s fangs.

A fatality as a result of a snake bite is quite rare. It's roughly between 1 and 3 people out of the 3000 who receive bites year that will result in a fatality. Around 60% of recorded deaths in Australia have been due to brown snake bites; the remainder are generally shared out amongst the inland taipan (world deadliest snake), the tiger snake (super aggressive) and the death adder (scary name).

Therefore, how do you manage this risk? Well for starters “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!” With the exception of the tiger snake, most snakes aren't aggressive. By leaving them alone, you've basically managed most of the risk involved. I've encountered countless snakes over the years and I've never even come close to getting bitten, because they tend to make a fast getaway. However, when provoked, poked, prodded and picked up, they do tend to become quite responsive. The fact that most bites occur on hands and wrists when people try to capture or kill them, should say something. Stupid people have a tendency towards picking snakes up and boys in particular find that they can't resist the temptation and on average more young males get bitten than anyone else. So again, “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!”

To highlight just how docile they can be, one of my colleagues last year was setting up a shelter when a red belly black snake slithered over his foot. He stood still, possibly frozen from the initial shock and associated fear, and the snake just continued on its way, not even noticing that my colleague was there. If you're hiking, ensure everyone is wearing sturdy footwear and heavy long pants and/or gators. The fangs on Australian snakes can't usually penetrate through these materials that prove great protection against the fangs. The one snake bite casualty I dealt with had been hiking in reef sandals and been bitten on the arch of her foot after stepping on the snake. Had she been wearing hiking boots, she would never have been bitten.

Signs & Symptoms:

With everything, no matter how well you try to prevent these things, people still get bitten. (If only we could leave the stupid people at home). Most bites that occur when out hiking, occur when someone accidentally steps on them. The pain has been described from being struck by a baseball bat, to being like a stick flicking up at you, to people feeling nothing at all until they start showing the signs and symptoms of envenomation, which include headache, tingling, stinging, burning or abnormal feelings of the skin, feeling anxious, tachycardia (increased heart rate), irregular heartbeat, nausea (feeling sick) vomiting, stomach pain, diarrhea, dizziness, breathing difficulties, problems swallowing, muscle weakness, confusion, paralysis, coma or death in the most severe cases. You may also see redness around the area of the bite and residual venom. However, it's possible that you won't see two clean fang puncture wounds and so rely more on the signs and symptoms.

Treatment:

To treat a snake bite wound, use the pressure immobilisation method. To do this, lay the person flat and do not let the victim move or walk anywhere as this will increase the pace at which the venom travels through the body. Take a compression bandage (preferably a snake bite bandage if you have one in your kit) and apply pressure directly over the top of the bite. The bandage should be firmly on and not so tight that it restricts blood flow. Snake venom travels through the lymphatic system, not the blood stream and so the compression bandage slows this process. If you have a second bandage (which you should), start at the toes, or fingers and apply the pressure bandage all the way to the top of the limb. Use another bandage each time you run out and then test the toes or fingers for capillary refill to ensure it’s not too tight.

Once you have the entire limb bandaged, immobilise that limb. If it's a leg, tie it to the other leg. If it's an arm, splint or tie it to the body. Basically, just make sure they can't move it. Then get them to professional emergency medical care as fast as possible. To be clear, this is just a general overview and for accurate up-to-date first aid advice, check the Australian Resus Council’s Official Guidelines
​
It's important to be aware that snake bites can cause a severe allergic reaction, anaphylaxis in some people. If you're treating a snake bite and someone has an anaphylactic reaction, treat it in the same way you would any other anaphylaxis as it becomes the priority and then apply the pressure immobilisation bandage.
Whilst snakes are a risk when out and about in the Australian bush, the most important thing to remember in the effective management of this risk is, “DON’T TOUCH SNAKES!” Happy summer camping season!

Whilst much of what I’ve written about so far is about risk management and working with teenagers in the outdoors, it gets way more complex when you add in the adult factor, especially when the adult factor has less awareness about the dangers of the outdoors than their own children.

This story goes back quite a few years. It started with a fishing trip and finished with a trip to hospital. This was also the last time I went fishing, not because of what happened, but I just don’t like fishing. It was the summer holidays and I was staying with my parents at their house near the beach, south of Sydney. It was a warm sunny day and a friend of mine called to see if I wanted to go fishing with him. As I had nothing else pressing on my agenda of sleep-ins and body boarding, I thought, why not?!
​
We headed down to Narrawallee Inlet, which is a beautiful estuary at the northern end of Narrawallee Beach. It’s a great spot for fishing, as you can stand next to the deeper channel on the rocks and safely fish without a boat. We positioned ourselves on the rock shelf on the corner of the channel as it turns, narrows and heads out to sea and cast our rods ready for the exciting wait until a fish decided to take a bite.

We’d been there for some time and didn’t really catch much, other than a leather jacket, which we threw back. It was late morning and we were both getting pretty hungry and so were about to head home for lunch, when we noticed something in the water. To explain how the inlet works, there’s a big body of water, a deep channel and a beach on the opposite side of the channel. Many people like to swim in the large body of water and float with the current in the inner channel, before it gets to the corner of the beach, speeds up and shoots out to sea. It’s a lot of fun to do on the inner channel inside the inlet… if you’re familiar with it!

Back to the fishing! We noticed four people, some distance away floating along in the current in the inner channel. As they drifted closer, we could see they were three young girls and one older man, who appeared not to be doing anything to get themselves out of the channel as they approached the corner where we were standing. They seemed to move faster and faster! Matt and I glanced at each other, knowing what each were thinking. ‘Oh Crap!’ They weren’t going to stop! The kids hit the corner and were swept effortlessly by the current into the main channel. Simultaneously, Matt and I dropped our fishing rods and started running along the rock shelf. I managed to get in line with one of the girls, whose little sister was a few metres in front. Luckily, she was washed up onto the beach. She stood up, was crying out for her sister and started running for the water again, about to jump back in. I held my hand up. ‘Stay there! Don’t go back in the water!’ I shouted firmly and kept running. The rock shelf curved away from me, and I now had no other option, than leap into the channel. I jumped in and went straight onto my back with my feet up in front of me, ready to fend off rocks. The strong current carried me along quickly. I aimed for the other girl and waited for the right moment. We were almost at the mouth of the inlet, when the young girl hit a small sandbar which had formed. This slowed her down just enough. I rolled over onto my front and swam as fast as I could directly for her. I could feel the adrenaline pumping through my body as I tore through the water. I reached out and managed to grab her by the shoulder. My feet hit the sandbar. I dug in and pulled her to shore. Out of breath and with my heart pounding through my chest, I turned to the other girl and gasped, ‘Are you ok?’

Glancing back I could see Matt dragging the man from the water, having already gotten the third girl out. I sighed with relief, knowing we’d been moments away from being swept out to sea.

With everyone safely back on land, but on two sides of the inlet, I walked the six and four year old sisters to a point where we could safely cross the water. To get the girls safely back to the other side, we had to walk some distance. I learned they were out with a family friend for the day. The rescued man was the father of the family friend who was also 6. Meeting up with Matt and the father there, I just stared at the guy and asked him what happened. He laughed and said, ‘The girls didn’t know what a current was. Ha! Ha! I guess they do now!’

I felt rage boiling up inside of me. This was my first experience of meeting a really stupid parent, like seriously stupid. One that shouldn’t be trusted with kids. I was about to blast him with a broadside usually reserved for misbehaving teens, when I looked down to see blood pooling in the water around Matt’s feet.

Turning my attention away from father of the year, I grabbed my towel wrapped it around Matt’s foot and applied pressure. There was blood everywhere and it was quickly seeping through the towel. ‘We need to get you to the hospital!’ I said. As it turned out, all this time, I’d been wearing my sneakers, but Matt had been wearing reef sandals. The rockshelf we’d run along had been covered in oysters and Matt’s feet had been sliced to pieces. Bundling him in the car, we dashed to Milton hospital and were seen quite quickly. After his feet were cleaned up, I could see the deep oyster filled slashes on his feet. The doctor dressed them and Matt’s one question was ‘Will I be ok to surf tomorrow?’
​
That was the last time I went fishing! Maybe next time, I’ll just go to the shop and grab some fish and chips!

Ok! I’m going to preface this by saying that there’s been way more than just one weird encounter when I’ve had kids out with me on an excursion. I’d love to hear other people’s experiences too, so feel free to get in touch and share some weird moments, I can’t be the only one having fun out there on excursions. I won’t say 'wilderness,' because some of my strange encounters have been in the city. Having said that, this week, I will actually be talking about an encounter in the Australian bush!
​
A few weeks back I talked about running into random people who weren't quite prepared for their hike, this week is another one of those. This happened mid-October and I was leading what was called a parent hike. This was part of a year 9 program, in which the boys spent six months with us and faced a range of different challenges. I’ll talk more about that program another time, but back to the hike! The parent hike was an overnight trip where one of the boys’ parents came down and we took both parent and son away, the idea being a complete role reversal where the kids were looking after the parents! We’d been hiking in the hot spring afternoon. Having stopped for lunch at the top of a spur, we’d then descended the steep 300 odd metres down to the river flats. It’s quite a spectacular area and once on the water, it’s this amazing funnel of cliffs and narrow banks.

Coming into camp, the parents were quite weary, most of them not used to the heat and exertion of the hike. I was at the front of the group with one of the boys, whose dad couldn’t make it, so I was fulfilling the role and had happily chatted away all afternoon. I was suddenly stopped in my tracks however, by a lady standing over a Trangia (camping stove) boiling water. It was more of the surprise of coming across someone in our camp ground more than anything else. It was rather remote and in the years of coming here, had never encountered anyone before. I politely said hello (thinking oh dear, we’ve just wrecked her night out with the forty people I had with me). She asked me where I was from and almost immediately following that asked me “What do you know about snakes?”

“I know a reasonable amount,” I replied. “What would you like to know?”

The lady look slightly relieved and proceeded to describe to me the colour, tones and features of a snake.

“Hmmm, that sounds like a baby brown snake!” I said.

“No it wasn’t a brown snake!” She curtly replied.

I did go on to explain that brown snakes do vary in colour quite a bit and given the area (which is known for its brown snakes), there was every chance that it was one.

“No definitely not a brown snake!” The lady reiterated.

“Ok, so have you seen one here at the camp site?” I asked.

“Well, it’s just that a friend of mine has been bitten by it.”

I looked around…

“She’s down along the river a bit, I’m just making her a cup of tea.”

“Oooh, that’s no good! Have you sent for help?” I enquired.

“Yeah, some of our friends are walking back out and we’ve wrapped up a t-shirt around her leg.”

I immediately replied with, “We’re first aid trained, we’ve got first aid kits with us and we’ve got a doctor with us.”
​
“No, it’s ok, she’ll be fine with a cup of tea!”

This is the first sign of weirdness. I can understand if they had first aid training, if they had communications, if they had a decent first aid kid, they’d be ok… But I wasn’t expecting that reaction. My concern was immediately the fact that if it were a brown snake, then the person who’s been bitten had about an hour untreated to get to a hospital! Not something I’d be comfortable with knowing the area, knowing the fact that it’s a two hour walk out and that once at the car park, it was a fifteen minute drive to get mobile reception! This picture was looking ugly, even though the tea was smelling rather nice.

I walked over to my group of parents and to the one who was a doctor for some advice. He was equally concerned and said to call the poisons unit at the Westmead Children’s Hospital in Sydney, get an ID on the snake and present this information to the lady. At the same time, we also offered compression bandages out of our first aid kids and literally forced them into the tea lady’s hand!

Reluctantly she took them. I know at this point many people would say, it’s not your problem as they’ve declined our help. However, with puzzled looks between myself and the doctor, we still had the feeling we should explore every possible avenue before leaving them to their own devices. Evening was fast approaching and the last thing we wanted to have to deal with was a body 200 metres from a camp full of kids and parents. At least we had someone who could call it… But we didn’t want that.

I made the call back to base on my radio, which had massive coverage throughout the area. I asked for an ID on the snake and gave full details of our location. Meanwhile, our doctor parent walked down, spoke with the lady who had been bitten and provided the offer of assistance to her directly. She thanked him and declined, saying that her foot was sore, but her friends had gone for help. Again 2hour walk! 15mins drive to get Comms. Meanwhile I was talking with base, who were on the phone to the poisons unit! I’m not seeing the logic in this, and even less when the poisons unit replied saying they think it was most likely a brown snake and you need to get the lady out of there as fast as possible!

Ok then… Now how do we approach this one? I thought about it as I walked down towards the lady who’d been bitten. I may as well just go with the honest blunt approach, that may upset her cup of tea, but I guess we could always make her another one. I did break the news in the most gentle way and said, "We’ve been talking with the poisons unit at the Westmead Children's Hospital and they’ve identified the snake as a brown snake. Because of that we believe it’s in your best interest for us to call emergency services for you."

She thought on this…

The seconds felt like hours as I kept glancing at my watch, calculating the time that had already elapsed. We’d burnt a lot of time. The one saving grace was the fact that she was at least somewhat relaxed (perhaps too relaxed about this).

Finally she spoke!

“Oh ok I suppose so!”

Bam! We had consent!

I felt a rush of adrenaline shoot through me, because we were now responsible for making sure this lady didn’t die.
My manner changed from negotiator to dictator. Back on the radio to base.

“I urgently need emergency services to figures grid 659483!” (not the real location) At this point I started recording everything I did in more detail. Glancing at my watch, I tagged the time of the call and started the timer.

Back to the lady, I clearly outlined the details of my call and their response. She then gave us consent to rewrap the shoddy bandage on her leg and we applied a proper compression bandage. We started to monitor her heart rate, which was elevated, but her being relaxed, was keeping this in check (lucky she had a cup of tea!)

Another glance at the watch to record my observations, a couple of minutes had passed. Continuing to reassure her, I could see some redness emerging and signs of envenomation. Now my heart rate was shooting through the roof.
​
In the distance I heard a mechanical hum. It was getting closer! The purr grew louder and louder. Suddenly, the Westpac Rescue Helicopter roared over our heads. You never realise how amazing and powerful these helicopters are until they fly over you just above the tree line! Checking my watch it had been 12 mins from when I gave the grid reference to when they flew over us!!!

I’d organised my gappies (our young staff from overseas) minutes earlier to setup a ground signal for the chopper, given that there was nowhere to land in the valley. To give you an idea of the lay of the land, it was essentially a river, flanked by stunning sheer cliffs. I could see the pilot wave as he descended, hovered over the water with one of the skids just touching the land. A medic jumped out from the back and walked over to where we were. The helicopter roared back up into the air and flew with its nose down along the river a few hundred metres before it lifted up spun 180 degrees, back toward us, skid down on the river bank, collected the lady and the medic and they were gone!!! If you had blinked you would have missed this extraction. It was amazing in its speed and co-ordination.

The doctor and I stood looking at each other with relief!

“Well that escalated quickly!” I laughed to him.

We wandered back down to the camp site where the rest of the group were setting up tents. Back to camp leader mode, I checked on how everyone else was going and got started on setting up my tent.

That evening we chatted around the fire, a quiet and relaxing change from the excitement of the afternoon.
​
A few days later we received a call back at school from the lady thanking us for our help. It turned out it was a brown snake and she had been poisoned! All I could think was thank goodness we persisted and had good communications back to base.