b'Sowing the seedsof safety culture In the early years, safety culture was unheard of in the industry. Hard hats and boots had yet to become standard; instead, stubby shorts, shearers singlets, a cigarette and sheer grit were the typical uniform. But in those rough-and-tumble beginnings, theseeds of Thiess safety culture were sown. Back in 1934, in Thiess earliest days in Kilkivan, the hills were so steep that men had to dig trenches along the top batter lines to keep tractors reasonably level. As there were no rippers in those days, they had to drill and shoot the rock. Pat Thiess, who handled the explosives, clambered up impossible slopes to do this. After letting the shot go, the Thiess boys would plough with up to four men on each machine to provide counterweights and aid the handling. The rock was moved by tractors and scoops. We took some great risks there on the tractors, reflected Bert Thiess. I was thrown off a few times and Pat rolled one. These were incredible challenges for a fledgling company navigating a demanding Australian landscape where brute force and ingenuity were often their only tools.After one round of blasting, the men at the base of the cutting were knappingthe stone for road base. Cecil Thiess and Stevens, the engineer, were standing on topof the cutting, watching work go on below and discussing the project. One moment the two men were standing there talking, the next, Stevens saw Cecil lying on the ground beside him.A rock had flown off the knapping hammer from the floor of the cutting and hit him in the right eye. They raced him to the hospital, and he was quickly transferred to Brisbane. Cecil remained there for some time, but doctors were unable to save the sight in that eye. Colin Thiess is Stan Thiess son, and he remembers life onsite in the 1950s when simple problem-solving sometimes overtook safety precautions. He recalls an incident when his Uncles Cecil and Bert wanted to move a big pump on the back of a ute. But it wasso heavy that the ute tipped back, and the front wheels came off the ground. So oneof them just jumped on the front and they drove off that way. It was the kind of can-do spirit that kept things moving in those days.89'