B~R~B
By Brigit-Rose Bell
My name is Brigit
and I live on the outskirts of Hamilton, which is in the Waikato region of
the North Island of New Zealand. I returned to the Waikato about eight
years ago and it is here that I went back to work fulltime when my
children were all at school.
I had always
dreamed of going back to the creative world of Sign writing but I found it
difficult because I was female. It was like being a Welder; it was not a
female orientated job. The art of sign writing has evolved in modern times
and today this art is very much advanced in technology and is basically a
world of graphic applications and commercial art.
I happened to
unfortunately change jobs in 1995 and took up work at a local Supermarket
working in the Deli. A back up Ticket & Sign writer’s position became
available and I was soon employed as the full time ticket writer.
I got to do a
variety of different jobs on site and one of my favourites was the chalk
art. I had heaps of blackboards to do in all the different departments,
including outside. I also painted A-frames for the roadside every week.
The rest of the time I was in my tiny workroom using many different types
of permanent marker pens & industrial inks to create advertising tickets
for the supermarket.
Little did I know that this job in the advertising sector of the food
Industry put my life on a course and the resultant effects are no
different to what is happening to those involved in Vietnam (Agent Orange), The Gulf War (Syndrome)
The Asbestos Clean-up, (Speaks
for itself), Industrial Poisoning (CSNT, CFS, M.E,
MCS…) so on…you
hear what I am saying.
Today life is very different after the initial recovery from CSNT and now,
I have been diagnosed with MCS. In layman’s terms MCS is a Multiple
Allergy type medical condition and the degree of effects and symptoms,
vary from person to person. Simple things such as perfumes or household
cleaners can cause an array of symptoms for the individual.
The initial battle of recovery from acute solvent poisoning was difficult
enough on the health and mind, but to compound this injury with the many
internal legal battles for recognition and liability has taken six years
of my life.
My injury was
also compounded by a second impact injury to neck and head on the day that
I collapsed at work. It must have been difficult for the Employers to
conceal a collapsed worker, let alone concealing the fact the worker had
been shifted and injured when moved down a ten-foot vertical ladder, when
the authorities were being sought.
Some people would call that
panic or profit before people!
I am quite sure the company I worked for was concealing much more than
just a collapsed worker or the illegal worksite. Fact!
Rumors and
malicious gossip or the opinion of “others
with hidden agendas”, can
obstruct the natural course of Justice, closing the door on the maligned.
It has taken me six years to more than
prove beyond any reasonable doubt that the course of natural Justice had
been obstructed by my Employers.
I was never
accepting the defamation of my character or the humiliation that had been
placed upon my children, family and friends let alone being paraded in
public as an intoxicated worker.
I do accept
the Integrity of the Department of Labour and those currently involved in
remedying the situations, that had grown from just one malicious rumor into a grossly
exaggerated fact.
This rumor also cost me a full recovery and medical tests that imperiled
my life. I had been denied the rights to a fair hearing and these costs
outrageously exceeded the costs for the medical treatment and ongoing
treatments. The personal cost to me after a three-year legal battle for
liability and responsibility far outweighed the costs of medical
treatment.
How was one acutely, chemically poisoned individual, expected to achieve
the impossible when facing corporate corruption and greed?
Changing your entire name helps
for starters or…
By using Rule 7 of the Privacy
Act:
“Where
a health agency holds health information, an individual is entitled to
request correction of that information and, where the agency is not
willing to correct it in accordance with such a request it must, If so
requested, take such steps as are reasonable to attach the information any
statement which corrects the information held”.
It was by using this NZ law that I proved seven times that the information
held on my files was false and had later been grossly exaggerated.
I have confidence in those authorities that are now dealing with the
different complaints, (legal or otherwise), hopefully they will provide satisfactory
closure to this chapter in my life.
I cannot turn the
clock back but I do welcome the changes that the law is bringing forth to
prevent this kind of thing happening to other workers in the future.
I cannot offer
any advice other than “Never
give up! You still have a
purpose and the sun will still come up tomorrow”.
Always remember that
everybody is entitled to their basic human rights, which includes the
right to be treated with dignity and respect.
B~R~B
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