Hawk Vagg
- Men's Health
- Motivational
- Resilience
- Risk Management
- Safety
- Work Environments
In December 1998, tall strapping farmer, Hawk Vagg was standing on a tractor’s front-end loader on a farm near Jerilderie NSW, elevated so he could cut down the higher branches of a huge river red gum which had toppled in a recent storm; as he chain sawed off the last big trunk, he miscalculated the way it would fall and it knocked him off the tractor. Hawk plunged onto a steep river bank - a fall that changed his life forever.
Hawk Vagg was 38 years old with a wife and four boys aged eleven, nine, three and two when he became a quadriplegic. Hawk’s journey from devastation and despair back to living a full and productive life taught him a lot about himself and life in general. He realised that life is all about ‘attitude’ – controlling your attitude.
He also learnt that when life deals you tough cards, that it doesn’t just impact you, but can also be devastating for all the people around you. Hawk learnt during his recovery that ‘it wasn’t just about him’, and he was inspired to share his story and teach people about ‘attitude, safety and culture’ so that other families don’t have to go through the type of pain that impacted his family.
Hawk tells his moving story with candour and humour. He reflects on his injury and his past as a strong resilient “man of the bush” to his current reality and his considerable achievements in between. He covers the long rehabilitation process; how family and friends adapted to his injury; the kindness of communities; becoming independent with his personal care; the fight for compensation; building a wheelchair friendly house; making noise as a injury advocate; the frustrations of looking for work; the sex life of a quadriplegic; the upside of learning to fly before his accident; the downside of flying after; the upside of fatherhood from wheelchair; the breakdown of his marriage and finding love again; his belief in the importance of attitude and starting a business as a motivational speaker. Hawk doesn’t want to become a Health and Safety trainer – That’s for others to do, he says. Hawk wants to teach and inspire people about ‘attitude’ and making ‘safety’ a normal part of everyday work. Today, Hawk travels Australia by air or in his specially converted van from his home in Toowoomba, Queensland, speaking to community groups and workers across all industries. That’s how he became - A Safety Speaker.
- It's not about you, OK!
- Walk a day with Hawk
- Attitude Induction
You have been given a gift as a Life Saver. I sat through your presentation yesterday with mixed emotions, those of sadness, sorrow, anger… where you can directly and indirectly impact and change the lives of many… you have been given a great gift of a Life Saver to many but at a tremendous personal sacrifice. I have asked myself what I could do for Hawk, my families, peers, colleagues and friends and came up with — Think and act safely in everything I do and ask / tell others to do the same to protect them from harm. 97.8% of our delegates said Hawk’s presentation was excellent / good.
Inspired by his words. Yesterday both myself & Ashlea Wright were invited to attend the Shell Global Safety day at the Pinkenba terminal on behalf of G4S Secure Solutions. As part of the presentation, we were privileged to listen to Hawk Vagg and his story relating to the accident in 1998. Hawk’s powerful and heart wrenching description of the events, & the people affected by that day in 1998, left both myself & Ashlea moved & inspired by his words. Hawk’s message has had a huge impact on my approach to everyday moments in life & highlighted the need to be vigilant & remain safe wherever we are in life, be it at work or home. In conjunction with Shell’s presentation, it was an uplifting & educational approach to what remains a common goal amongst us all – a safe workplace/environment. On behalf of G4S, I would like to thank Shell for extending the invitation. I wish Hawk Vagg continued success with his presentations around the country and personally thank Hawk for raising my safety awareness to a higher level of appreciation. Good Luck Hawk. Thank you all.
The boys comment about things you made them aware of in your presentation. Hello Hawk, better late than never, I would like to thank you for the day you spent here on site. As recently as a week ago, some of the boys comment about things you made them aware of in your presentation. The feedback has been very good and attitude to safety awareness have changed for the better. Your posters are a very good reminder for the workers, not just the workers that were there on the day, other workers have commented on them as well. I believe the effects of your visit will assist in keeping the safety awareness on the right track for some time.