Taking responsibility for the safety of you and your workmates on site is crucial. It’s the moment when you don’t think something bad will happen and you lose your focus for a second that the worst can happen.

Brant ‘Bugsy’ North started in the mining industry in 1990 at Oaky Creek No.1 in Central Queensland. It was in 1999 while working underground that his life changed forever, having both of his legs amputated in a workplace accident.

“I was on my last nightshift underground and my supervisor asked me to do a job. It was just unloading some equipment onto a conveyor and then at the other end the rest of the team were pulling that equipment off, so they were stopping the conveyor and starting it, and I was getting up and down off it.

“I had one foot on the conveyor and the other foot off when it happened. My team at the other end were pulling gear off and they didn’t know exactly where I was and there was no communication, so they started the conveyor up. My foot got caught under the conveyor and I was dragged seven metres.

“Mines Rescue came down first and secured the area, they put supports up to ensure the roof didn’t fall in. About an hour later, the town doctor arrived but he really had no experience with what I was dealing with, so he passed the baton onto the Royal Flying Doctors Service.

“By the time they got there it was about four hours after it happened. They ended up amputating both my legs underground. Mines Rescue stayed with me and kept me calm.

“It got to a point underground where I told them to just do what they needed to do, there was no other option. When you’re trapped like that you just want to do anything you can to not be trapped anymore.

“Once they got me out, I was in the ambulance heading to a plane to get to hospital.

“I didn’t realise but my dad was on shift that night too, so he was there waiting when I got out. He was understandably pretty shaken up.”

Bugsy said he doesn’t remember much after that. He was in Rockhampton for two weeks, the first week going in and out of operations, but at the end of the second week things took a turn.

“One of the nurses was changing my dressings and I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t get air in. The nurse thought perhaps it was shock from changing the dressings, but it got worse and I ended up having renal failure, and some other delayed trauma.

“I was rushed to Brisbane and was on life support for a couple of days and then into renal recovery so my kidneys could recover and then to rehab. I ended up being in hospital for about six months.”

Bugsy has no doubt that if Mines Rescue weren’t there and if the Royal Flying Doctors Service hadn’t taken the drastic action they did, he wouldn’t be alive today.

“The Mines Rescue guys did everything and anything to keep me comfortable until they could get me out; when they weren’t securing the environment, they were trying to keep me calm and sane,” Bugsy reflected.

After that, life for Bugsy changed into something he never would’ve imagined.

He didn’t sit at home and wallow in the fact that he was bound to a wheelchair for the rest of his life, he came across the right people at the right time that steered him in a brand new direction.

“I met a trainer while I was in hospital in Brisbane. His name was Charlie, he was a bit of a guardian angel at the time. He was a personal trainer, had owned gyms, competed, he had a bit of experience. Charlie was the most enthusiastic person I had ever met, if there was something I couldn’t do he wouldn’t leave me alone until I had done it!

“He steered me in the direction of seated volleyball. It was something I had never seen before but I started training with some guys in Brisbane who were on the development squad. We trained together, played local clubs and in the July of 2000, we were lucky enough to be named on the Australian team for the Sydney 2000 Paralympics.

“Charlie helped me train, and honestly if I didn’t have him at that time in my recovery I wouldn’t have recovered as well as I did.

“I had never played a lot of sport and at no point when we were playing did I think I would be going to the Paralympics!

“It was one of the biggest and best things I had ever been to as far as sporting experiences go. The 5,000-capacity stadium was packed just about every game and you’d come out after and there were school kids lined up for photos and autographs, it was so special.

“Being around other people in a similar situation to me was great as well, you learnt so much from one another.”

Bugsy’s sporting career came to an end after a few years when he and his wife decided to expand their family and Bugsy couldn’t leave them behind all the time to travel and compete.

That’s when he got into public speaking.

“Someone in Emerald encouraged me to do it and the more I did it, the better I got! I’ve been doing it for about 14 years now going out to mines and talking to crews, I have shared my story with thousands of people now.

“I talk about the things I could have done to stop the accident and about what happened in life before, during and after. I just reinforce that we need to look after one another and get everyone home safe at the end of the day.

“People often ask me if I would stop my kids from entering the industry given what happened to me. I wouldn’t. We’ve come so far with technology and safety, there are better systems in place and I think it’s much better than it was back in the day. I encourage my kids to get involved.

“But the one thing I always make sure I say is don’t be one of those people that thinks it will never happen to you. I was one of those people, yet it happened to me and it can happen to anyone if you’re not focused on your job for even a single second.”