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Risk Management Gallery

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Where heavy vehicles can stand or park

Heavy vehicles (GVM of 4.5 tonnes or more) or long vehicles (7.5 metres long

or longer) must not stop on a length of road outside a built up area, except on

the shoulder of the road. In a built up area they must not stop on a length of

road for longer than one hour (buses excepted). For more information on where

vehicles can stand or park, refer to the Road Users’ Handbook.

A vehicle or a vehicle and trailer with a GVM of more than 12 tonnes, must

carry three portable warning trianglesto use if the vehicle breaks down.

If a vehicle required to carry warning triangles stops or the load being carried

by the vehicle falls onto the road and is not visible for 200 metres in all

directions, the driver must put:

• The first triangle between 50-150m from the front of the vehicle or fallen load.

• The second triangle between 50-150m from the rear of the vehicle or fallen load.

• The third triangle at the side of the vehicle, or fallen load, in a position that gives sufficient

warning to other road users of the position of the vehicle or fallen load.

Tools ‹ Zonewise — WordPress.

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Australian Road Safety Ideas

Back in 2007 Zone Wise invented the ideal safety solution for Australian Road conditions. The concept is to target heavy vehicles and have them display the 100mm x 2.5 m safety vest strips across the back of the vehicle when it is broken down or parked on the roadside.

Using this simple, flexible, patented technique with the Zone Wise Traffic Signal Sheets,  visibility of vehicle will occur 500m to 1km away. 

 

                  

New Safety Vest Regulations

Legal requirements for driving in France

Safety gilet advertFor two years, French motorway authorities have been encouraging the use of yellow vests for drivers leaving their vehicles due to breakdowns or accidents. They handed out 25, 000 free vests in 2006, and published guidelines on how to leave your vehicle safely. Now the vests have become a legal requirement for anyone driving on French roads. Since 1st July 2008, drivers found without safety vests for themselves and their passengers can be fined up to €135.

It’s another thing to think about whilst planning a trip, and adds to the other recent European driving regulations (see Driving in France), but it’s all pretty sensible, really. The only pain is that your vest has to be CE certified. Vests must be kept in the front of the car, so that you can access them easily, before getting out of the vehicle.

These are the official steps to take in case of breakdown on a French motorway;

1. Turn on hazard lights.
2. Put on safety vest.
3. Get out of the vehicle on the passenger side (if in a British car, this will be the driver’s side, but basically NOT the road side of the vehicle).
4. Get behind the safety barrier.
5. Alert the recovery service, either by an ‘SOS’ public phone, or by calling 112 from a mobile (see rates for this service at www.autoroutes.fr. You may have your own free recovery service with your vehicle insurance or separate breakdown cover – make you have the relevant documents to hand.
6. Stay with your vehicle (not in it) until the recovery service arrives.

  “Privacy Policy Information.”    http://zonewise.com.au/
. The Zone Wise Trading Pty Ltd (“Zone Wise”) respects the privacy of every individual who visits www.Zone Wise.com.au(the “Website”) .Zone Wise is committed to protecting your privacy by complying with the National Privacy Principles. We maintain the privacy of your information using the latest and most sophisticated security technologies.We will never sell your personal information to other organisations. We are in the business of providing you with the best merchandise offers.To process your requests and contact you immediately via email and/or SMS about offers too good to miss, according to your preferences.To process and fulfil your order, we need to know your name, email address, phone number, shipping address, credit card number and expiry date. For certain items eg. white goods we may need to contact you to arrange suitable delivery.We will not use or disclose the information you give us about yourself except:
for the purpose you gave us the information;
a purpose related to that reason; or
another purpose to which you have consented.

By using our Website you are agreeing to the terms of this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree with any terms or practices described in this Privacy Policy please do not use our Website.


Personally Identifiable Information

Zone Wise will not collect any Personal Information about you (that is your name, address, telephone number, or email address) unless you provide it voluntarily. If you do not want your Personal Information collected do not submit it to us.

If you do submit Personal Information we will store and process that information to better understand your needs, offer certain products and services in connection with our Website; communicate to you; provide customer service; provide a personalized shopping experience; prevent fraud; fulfill your orders, including delivery and billing; complete payment method processing and improve our products and services.

We may also use that information or provide it to outside companies to contact you; provide that information to partners to enable you to access those partners’ websites; and aggregate the data you provide to us with other publicly available data about you.

We will not distribute or sell your Personal Information to any outside company for marketing or solicitation of any product not affiliated with Zone Wise and your Personal Information will only be used to support your relationship with Zone Wise and its partners. In each case, the outside company is under agreement with Zone Wise to protect your Personal Information and to use it solely as Zone Wise directs.

There are certain limited instances where we may disclose or transfer Personal Information other than as described above. For example, we may provide such information to appropriate authorities if we believe in good faith that the law requires it or to protect our legal rights or property. Additionally, as we continue to develop our business, we may buy or sell business assets. In such transactions, customer information is generally one of the transferred business assets. However, we are not in the business of selling customer information to others, and aside from certain exceptional circumstances, we will take appropriate measures to ensure the protection of the information you provide to us.


Changing my Personal Information

We take reasonable steps to ensure that all of your Personal Information we collect, use or disclose is accurate, complete, up to date, stored in a secure environment and accessed only be authorized personnel for permitted purposes. If your Personal Information changes, you may update/register your information on the Web page. You may also contact us using the information in “Contact Us” to review the Personal Information you provided, update your Personal Information or request that we remove your Personal Information from our records.


Links and Privacy

We may provide links to websites outside of our Website. These linked sites are outside of our control, and we are
not responsible for the conduct of companies linked to our Website.

Ownership
Ownership title of goods remains with Zone Wise until payment has
been made in full into our account or cheques cleared

New Accounts
First 3 orders are payment before despatch of final goods. After 3
orders an automatic 30 day account will be granted. Exceptions to this are as
follows
1) Government or school bodies who produce a purchase order will be given 30
days net from invoice.
2) Corporate bodies who produce a purchase order will be given a temporary 14
day account from invoice. After 3 orders they will be placed on a 30 day
account.

All credit accounts must be maintained on a 30
day net basis. Failure to do so will result in your account being placed on Stop
Supply and all future orders on payment before despatch of final goods


Standard Shipping and Handling Charges

We make best efforts to ship
your products to your desired destination in the most economical way possible
given your specified date and production limitations. We guarantee that your
items will leave the factory on or before the ship date specified on Order
Confirmation.

  • $0-$20 = $5.95
  • $20-$50 = $6.95
  • $50+ = $8.95

Additional shipping and handling charges will be added for heavy items and/or large items.
Complete shipping charges will appear after billing information has been entered.

Standard Shipping orders will be processed in approximately 3-5 business days. Orders can be delayed and Zone Wise makes no guarantees or promises regarding delivery dates. Deliveries are only made Monday through Friday. No deliveries on the weekend or holidays. Zone Wise® will determine the shipping carrier.

Fulfillment
2% above or below quantities order is acceptable as full shipment and
billed accordingly

We
cannot be held responsible for goods lost or delayed by common carrier,
international or Australian Customs departments or by ‘acts of God’.

Insurance
is available at a rate of 2% of value of order. If insurance is waived, shipment
is at the receiver’s risk.

Cancellation of
Order
Once the order
is confirmed, it is agreed we will supply your product in the specified time as stated
in the order.

 
 
Claims
or Returns
In the unlikely event of a claim, only written claims will be accepted
and must be made within 14 days of receiving goods. Claims or returns will only
be accepted where there is a fault in the product supplied .
Faulty goods must be returned for inspection before a refund or
replacement of stock will be issued.
Default
Accounts
Any company or person/s defaulting on a payment to Zone Wise will be
actively pursued by us. All fees involved in recovering the debt will be billed
to that company or person/s. Any account over 90 days due will be given to our
debt collectors. A 3% interest charge will be added to the invoice for
each  month past 90 days that the debt remains unpaid and all recovery
costs will be added to the outstanding amount.

Payment Security

When you place orders online, we use a secure server that encrypts all your personal information before it is sent to us to prevent unauthorised access to your information. We DO NOT store credit card details on our website.

 

Changes to security/privacy policies
Our policy is intended to provide you with a safe and secure shopping experience. However since technology is changing so rapidly, we reserve the right to change, modify, add or remove portions of our Privacy & Security Policy at any time without prior notice. Please periodically review these Policies for changes.

 


Disclaimer

Published prices and merchandise details are correct and valid at time of entry. Zone Wise is not liable for any changes to prices or merchandise or the withdrawal of an advertised special for any reason whatsoever. Zone Wise and its associated companies do not assume or accept any responsibility for, and shall not be liable for, the accuracy or appropriate application of any information whatsoever in the Zone Wise website.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://zonewise.com.au/BUSH-SAFETY3.html

AAP General News (Australia)
06-19-2000
Vic: Father and son spend two cold nights lost in bush

MELBOURNE, June 19 AAP – A Melbourne father and son who spent two nights lost in near-freezing
conditions in dense bushland were found alive today.

Relieved relatives cheered when they heard that a helicopter had winched the pair to
safety after spotting them in thick scrub in the Yarra Ranges National Park, north-east
of Melbourne, about 12.40pm (AEST).

“Both (were) obviously covered in cuts and scratches,” Victoria Police pilot Darryl
Jones told Channel 10 News.

AAP General News (Australia)
11-23-2009
Vic: Brumby catcher survives three nights lost in bush

By Melissa Jenkins

MELBOURNE, Nov 23 AAP – A brumby catcher, who spent three nights lost in Victoria’s
rugged high country before being rescued, was knocked unconscious when his horse clashed
with the stallion he was chasing.

The 35-year-old Gippsland man was last seen pursuing a stallion in the state’s high
plains on Friday about 7pm (AEDT).

Fellow Parks Victoria brumby catchers raised the alarm on Saturday when they failed
to find him in Alpine National Park in the state’s northeast.

  A City child lost in the Bush.The La Trobe Journal | March 22, 2004 | Torney, Kim | COPYRIGHT 2004 State Library of Victoria Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Chopper search for woman lost in bush

Posted Mon Sep 24, 2007 5:49pm AEST

Police are using a helicopter to search for a woman missing in bushland at Mount Macedon, north-west of Melbourne.

The 49-year-old woman went missing at about 2:00pm.

Police have been able to contact the woman on a bad mobile phone line, but cannot work out where she is.

Police say the woman is wearing a green jumper.

We’re idiots: youths rescued from bush

Two teenagers who were missing in rugged bush in Victoria’s south-west after trying to sneak into a music festival without tickets say they are “idiots”.

The pair, Harry Wild and Ryan Hurley, both 19, who were reunited with their parents on Thursday, said they had been trying to find a back way into the Falls Music Festival, near Lorne on the Great Ocean Road.

But their plans went horribly awry when the pair lost mobile phone contact and ended up getting lost for three days.

A police helicopter spotted the boys, who are from Mildura in the state’s north, early on Thursday.

Rescuers trekked 400 metres through thick terrain to meet them.

Mr Wild said they were foolish to try and sneak into the festival.

“We’re idiots, and we know we’re idiots at the moment. We think we are so silly,” he told reporters soon after the pair emerged from the bush.

The two men huddled together through three cold, wet nights.

“Very close. Very close. It was nice and cosy,” Mr Hurley said.

Mr Wild said: “All night. All night. I had my hands inside his little jumper to keep my hands warm.”

Police inspector Bill Weatherly, who helped co-ordinate the search, said the youths were relieved when rescuers arrived.

“For a couple of boys that have been out in the bush for three days they are in remarkable condition actually,” he told AAP.

“They were certainly cold, one of them had a windcheater that was wet, but inside he said it was quite warm, the other guy had a flannel shirt on.

“You could see that they are tired but the two boys they are in great nick.”

Insp Weatherly said police drove the youths’ parents to a track near where they were found.

He said it was fantastic to see sons and parents reunited.

“Very emotional a lot of hugs, tears from the mums and even from the dads,” Insp Weatherly said.

The boys had done the right thing by remaining in the one spot, he said.

“They basically stayed in the one position from the time they lost communication with us on Tuesday afternoon,” Insp Weatherly said.

“They just walked up and down from a little creek bed if they needed a drink.”

After receiving a check-up on the track the boys were taken to the Lorne police station to be fed and de-briefed.

Police lost mobile phone contact with the boys on Tuesday.

More than 60 people including police, State Emergency Service volunteers and local bushwalkers were involved in the search.

Insp Weatherly said he did not think the boys would be made to pay for the search.

“I don’t believe we are looking at anything other than re-uniting two kids with their families, these things happen.”

Harry Wild’s father Ron told AAP on Wednesday his son had lost his wallet with his festival ticket in it earlier in the week.

Climber rescued following Vic cliff fall

A 42-year-old rock climber is in hospital with neck and back injuries after a 13-hour rescue operation in remote bush.

The Port Melbourne man was rescued from a narrow ledge half way up a 150m rock face in western Victoria’s Grampians mountain range after he fell about 11.15am (AEDT) Sunday.

He did not arrive at Royal Melbourne Hospital until 1am Monday.

The man could not be winched out by helicopter because of his precarious position.

Instead, search and rescue teams lowered him in a stretcher to the ground and then carried him four kilometres to a four wheel drive, which then took him to an air ambulance.

The rescue, estimated to have costs tens of thousands of dollars, involved six Victoria Police search and rescue members, 30 State Emergency Service members, four Parks Victoria rangers, the Mt Arapiles rescue team, two helicopters, and a local ambulance.

The climber is now in Royal Melbourne Hospital in a stable condition.

Man impaled on tree in abseiling mishap

20:07 AEST Sat Nov 10 2007

AAP

A man is lucky to be alive after he was impaled on a tree branch while abseiling down a steep cliff face on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast.

The 27-year-old man from Toowoomba was abseiling rapidly down a 100 metre cliff face at Mount Tinbeerwah, near Noosa, when the accident occurred just before 1pm (AEST) on Saturday.

He is recovering in Nambour Hospital with serious injuries after a tricky hour-long rescue operation to extricate him from the rocky and dense bush terrain.

Energex Rescue Helicopter intensive care paramedic Jeff Bradfield said it was one of the most difficult rescue operations he had performed in more than 16 years as a paramedic.

 
 
 

“He descended really quickly and on his way down had a tree branch basically impale him,” Mr Bradfield said.

“It entered (from behind his back) and cut him out just below his belly button.

“We had to use bolt cutters to actually cut the part of the tree branch away so that we could fit him into the winch stretcher and then winch him out into the rescue helicopter and fly him to hospital.”

Mr Bradfield said the climber was lucky to be alive.

“From talking to one of the emergency physicians at Nambour Hospital, they said initially it looks as though it has missed most of the vital organs in his lower abdomen,” Mr Bradfield said.

“He is extremely lucky.

“It was one of the most interesting cases I have done in 16.5 years and even on the helicopter it is quite a unique case. This is literally a one-in-a-million chance of happening.”

A friend of the abseiler, Dave Beasley, said he had followed the rescue closely.

“We were on speaker phone, we could hear everything he was saying,” Mr Beasley told the Nine Network.

“I was actually in the process of telling some people at the top how safe abseiling is when it happened.”

A BASE jumper has died in the NSW Blue Mountains after landing in trees.

Emergency services were called to the Grand Canyon jump on Grand Canyon Rd, near Evans lookout, just before 9am (AEDT) on Saturday.

A NSW Ambulance Service spokeswoman said the man was stuck in the tree canopy about 15 metres off the ground after making a jump.

Paramedics and an ambulance helicopter were sent to the scene.

“The paramedics were able to get to him and they confirmed that he was deceased,” the spokeswoman said.

Police said the man, 30, from Sydney’s northern beaches, was with a group of about nine people at the time of the accident and witnesses were being interviewed.

Anyone with information about the incident is urged to

Six canyoners missing in Blue Mountains

20:32 AEST Wed Jan 13 2010

3 days 15 hours 22 minutes ago

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Jan 17, 2010

Emergency services will resume a search on Thursday morning for a group of six canyoners missing in the NSW Blue Mountains.

The group – two men aged 25 and 27, two women aged 25 and 27 and two children aged 13 and 15 – failed to return from a canyoning trip to the Wollangambe Canyon in the Blue Mountains National Park on Tuesday.

A concerned relative called police after the group failed to return as scheduled on Tuesday afternoon and could not be contacted by phone.

Police have been told some of the group are experienced canyoners and all six have adequate clothing.

An operation, involving paramedics, Rural Fire Service officers and a helicopter, was carried out on Wednesday and 40 personnel will return to the area at 8am (AEDT) on Thursday to resume the search.

Avalanche fatality ‘just bad luck’

21:29 AEST Sun Aug 17 2008

517 days 13 hours 28 minutes ago

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Jan 17, 2010

A young skier killed under an avalanche of snow and ice high in the Kosciuszko National Park was the victim of “bad luck”, an experienced rescuer said.

The skier was one of three men to die in separate skiing accidents in the Perisher Valley area on Sunday, police said.

The man killed in the avalanche was a 24-year-old from the Blue Mountains town of Wentworth Falls.

He was one of five people skiing at Blue Lake, near Charlotte Pass, when it’s believed a collapsed segment of hardened snow known as an ice cornice gave way.

Emergency service crews were called in shortly after 1.30pm (AEST).

The area is a known ice-climbing site and it was initially thought the man was a climber.

His body was found about 5.45pm, police said.

Snowy Mountains State Emergency Services worker Les Threlfo said that leaving aside the Thredbo landslide, which killed 18 people in 1997, this was the first death in “30-odd years” from an avalanche in the Snowy Mountains.

“It’s very icy where the skiers have been,” Mr Threlfo told AAP.

“The area has an ice base and the snow sometimes isn’t stable.

“I’d say he’s been there, it (the snow and ice) has rolled and he’s gone.

“It was a particularly good day up here. This is just bad luck, I presume.”

The man’s body had been recovered, he said.

Eight members of the SES’s alpine rescue team, using four skidoos, arrived at the site mid-afternoon to search for the man.

They were joined by NSW Police members and a NSW Ambulance special casualty access team.

A rescue helicopter was at the scene within minutes of the alarm being raised.

Police will prepare a report for the coroner.

A 59-year-old man from the Sydney suburb of St Ives died when he skied into a tree on a run at Blue Cow called Outer Limits about 12.15pm, police said.

Just three hours later a second man, 48, of the Snowy Mountains town of Jindabyne, also died when he hit a tree while skiing.

He had successfully completed the steep Olympic run but lost control soon after.

http://zonewise.com.au/BUSH-SAFETY3.html

British backpacker found alive after 12 days lost in Australian bush

Jul 15 2009

  BRITISH backpacker Jamie Neale has been found alive in the Australian bush after his desperate father gave up hope of ever seeing him again.

Mr Neale, 19, from Muswell Hill, north London, had not been seen since July 3 when he left his hostel in the town of Katoomba, New South Wales, for a walk in the Blue Mountains.

Mr Neale’s father, Richard Cass, who flew to Australia to join the search, was preparing to leave Sydney on a flight today after holding a “little closure ceremony” and lighting a candle in the park to say goodbye.

Mr Cass, who was reunited with his son today, said he was “gaunt and scrawny” and had been losing hope he would ever be rescued as search helicopters failed to spot him waving at them.

New South Wales Police said two bushwalkers found Mr Neale near the Narrow Neck fire trail, near Katoomba, and he was taken to Katoomba’s Blue Mountains Hospital suffering from exhaustion and dehydration.

Mr Cass, who was flown to the hospital to be reunited with his son, told Sky News: “He said he was losing faith in the idea there was a God every time the helicopter flew over and he was waving and shouting and nothing happened.

“He thought he was going to die.”

His son looked “gaunt and scrawny” after surviving on seeds and reeds and sleeping under a log or huddled up in his jacket, he said.

“He’s still a bit depressed, a bit dazed about what happened to him.”

Mr Cass said he thought his son had “probably fallen off a cliff” and added that he must be “the only teenager in the world” to go on an expedition like that without his mobile phone.

Mr Neale’s mother, Jean Neale, said she had refused to believe she would never see her son again.

Speaking from her home in Muswell Hill, she told Sky News: “I never gave up hoping, I always knew he’d be coming home. He’s determined and if he sets his mind to something, he will do it.

“I told all the family and his friends that he was coming home and I had no doubts about that. That kept them strong and in turn that kept me strong.”

Her son was tearful and exhausted when she talked to him on the phone, she said.

“I spoke to him in hospital and he said he didn’t think he’d ever see me again and he just wanted to hear my voice. He was nearly in tears.

“I told him ‘you don’t get rid of me that easily’.”

She said that as far as she knew, her son’s disappearance had been simply due to him getting lost.

New South Wales Police said in a statement: “About 11.30am today, two bushwalkers alerted emergency services to advise they had come across a man who identified himself as Jamie Neale near the Narrow Neck fire trail, near Katoomba.

“Police Rescue officers, using a Rural Fire Service vehicle, made their way to the location and confirmed the identity of the man.

“He’s been taken to Katoomba Hospital for treatment of dehydration and exposure.”

A hospital spokeswoman said Mr Neale was in a stable condition at Katoomba’s Hospital.

Television pictures showed him getting out of a police car unaided and walking towards the hospital door.

Mr Neale arrived in Australia on June 22 and checked into a youth hostel in Katoomba on Thursday July 2.

He was last seen at about 9.40am the next day.

A check of his room at the hostel revealed he had not taken any of his belongings with him including his mobile phone and personal papers.

He booked and paid for a tour of some nearby caves for the Saturday but never turned up.

A check of his bank and email accounts confirmed they had not been touched since his disappearance.

A wide-ranging search was carried out, involving police from Blue Mountains Local Area Command, the Rescue Squad, Dog Unit and Polair, the Police Air Wing, as well as the Rural Fire Service, State Emergency Service, Volunteer Rescue Association and National Parks and Wildlife Service, police said.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “The Australian police have notified British consular staff that Mr Neale has been found alive. We’re providing consular assistance.”

 Mr Cass told Sky News: “He’s come back from the dead.

“I’m just so pleased to see him.

“It’s fantastic.”

He said his son, who he described as “a tough kid”, had spoken of eating seeds and plants which tasted like the salad leaf rocket while he was missing.

Mr Neale told his father he had walked up to high ground to get his bearings but lost his way as soon as he walked back into the trees.

 I thought I would die, admits British teenager lost in Australian bush

 Jul 16 2009 By Victoria Ward

 A BRITISH teenager lost in the Australian bush for almost a fortnight said last night: “I really thought I was going to die.”

 Jamie Neale, 19, was miraculously found alive and well by two backpackers.

 After an emotional reunion at his bedside, his stepfather said: “He’s the only teenager in the world who goes on a 10-mile hike and leaves his mobile phone behind.”

 Jamie vanished on a walkabout in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.

 He survived on nothing but seeds, leaves and lettuce-like plants and last night was being treated for exhaustion and dehydration.

 Speaking from his hospital bed, he said: “I was scared they’d stop looking for me. I could see the helicopters flying overhead but they couldn’t see me.”

 Jamie’s stepdad Richard Cass flew out to Oz to join the massive search operation. But after a week, with temperatures dropping to around freezing each night and the mountains shrouded in mist and fog, he accepted that his son was gone and made a shrine for him on the mountain.

Richard said: “When I arrived, I thought there was still hope, but after day after day went (I thought) we have to maybe consider something terrible has happened to him.

 ”I thought if they haven’t found him… he’s fallen off a cliff. He’s probably dead within 24 hours of us knowing that he was missing. I had my little closure ceremony out there in the park.

 ”I carved his name and lit a candle, buried a red rose for England and he’s come back from the dead. He’s going to come back and see his gravestone.”

 With a heavy heart, Richard headed for Sydney airport to fly back home. But as he waited for the plane, he got the news he had been waiting for in a text message from police.

 He said yesterday: “It said ‘Phone me, I’ve got good news.

 ”That was when I knew he was safe. “It was absolutely stunning. I’m at the airport. I’m surrounded by strangers. My brother was there and I’m like a lunatic – ‘My boy’s been found, my boy’s been found!’”

 Mum Jean Neale, from Muswell Hill, north London, insisted: “I never gave up hope. You never give up hope on your children until someone actually proves to you differently. As far as I was concerned, he was coming home.

 ”He’s very stubborn and resourceful.” Jamie set off for Australia on June 20 and had also planned to visit Laos, Vietnam and Nepal before starting at Exeter University in September.

 He was captured on CCTV leaving his hostel in Katoomba, New South Wales, on July 3 and reported missing when he failed to turn up for a pre-booked tour of some nearby caves the following day.

 A 400-strong search party scoured the rugged Jamison Valley using helicopters and dogs, as well as police, fire brigade officers, park rangers and emergency service volunteers.

 But the sub-zero temperatures were so harsh that the police search chopper was grounded several times.

 New South Wales assistant commissioner Denis Clifford said it was “like searching for a needle in a haystack”.

 One of the rescue team broke an arm and another suffered dehydration and had to be winched out.

 As Jamie stumbled around trying to find his way out, sipping rainwater from leaves, he could hear the sounds of a rescue helicopter in the distance.

 But his desperate calls for help went unheard. He told his dad he had walked up to high ground to get his bearings but lost his way back in the trees.

 Richard said: “He said he was losing faith in the idea there was a God every time the helicopter flew over and he was waving and shouting and nothing happened. He thought he was going to die.”

 But by sheer chance, two Aussie bushwalkers stumbled upon the teenager yesterday.

 One had medical experience and treated Jamie on a mountain track before he was taken to hospital and treated for dehydration and exposure.

 Gaunt and confused, he still managed to crack a joke when he called home.

 Mum Jean revealed: “He said to me, ‘At least they found me in time to catch the plane to Kathmandu.’

 ”I was shocked and asked did he really still want to go travelling, but he said, ‘No, I want to come home.’

 Richard added: “I can’t say I’d kill him because it would just spoil the point of him being back.

 ”I’m going to kick his a**e – the millions that have been spent on this search, the man hours and woman hours that have gone into it… all because he goes out on a walk without his mobile phone.”

 Jean said: “One of the first things I asked was if he had run into any poisonous snakes or animals. But luckily, it’s winter over there now and most of the dangerous snakes are hibernating.

 ”If he goes travelling again, we will get one of those watches with a beacon so he can be picked up if he goes walkabout again.

 ”He’s not leaving the country again until he has got one of those.”

 FACTFILE

 The Blue Mountains, about two hours inland from Sydney, are a hugely popular tourist destination.

 The area contains dense eucalyptus bushland, swampland and rainforests.

 The land is prone to bush fires in summer but temperatures can fall to below zero at night around this time of year, Australia’s winter.

 Three million visitors flock to the area every year to see koalas, wombats, huge lizards and kangaroos in their native environment.

 But the Blue Mountains are also home to deadlier species, such as venomous spiders and insects. Trekkers are advised to travel with a bush expert.

 Muswell Hill backpacker lost in Australian bush found alive

8:36am Wednesday 15th July 2009

 By Elizabeth Pears »

 MUSWELL Hill backpacker Jamie Neale has been found alive after being lost in the Australian bush for almost two weeks.

 The former Alexandra Park School pupil arrived in Australia for a holiday but went missing on July 3, after going for a mountain hike.

 Two bushwalkers found Jamie, 19, on a nature trail. He has since been taken to Katoomba Hospital for treatment for dehydration and exposure after twelve days without proper food or water.

 His father Richard Cass, who flew to Australia last Friday to help search for his son, had been preparing to return later today.

 But he is now on his way to the hospital to be reunited with his son.

 New South Wales Police said they were “relieved” Jamie had been found after comparing the manhunt as “trying to find a needle in a haystack.”

 Jamie had checked into a youth hostel, in Katoomba, Sydney, on Thursday, July 2, and was last seen at 9.40am the following day.

 His personal belongings, including a mobile phone and personal papers, were found in his room at the hostel.

 Family said Jamie was an experienced hiker who loved the outdoors.

 Jamie, who completed his A-levels last year, had been working as a maths and science technician at his former school to save up money for his trip.

 On his return, he was heading to Exeter University in September.

http://zonewise.com.au/BUSH-SAFETY3.html

Lost in the Blue Mountains

Lost teen tried hard to answer operators

Friday, May 1, 2009

An inquest has heard tapes in which David Iredale talks to emergency call operators when lost.


Jan 17, 2010

Dehydrated and lost in NSW’s Blue Mountains, David Iredale tried about 15 times to satisfy emergency operators’ demands for details about his location.

The problem was he was deep in the bush and all the operators seemed interested in was a street address and a town.

It was one of the factors that let him down after he ran out of water and became separated from two friends during a hike in December 2006, an inquest into his death has been told.

Tapes of his calls to Telstra’s emergency call point, which connects mobile users to emergency service operators, were played for the first time at the inquest on Thursday.

In the first call he tells the Telstra triple-zero operator he hasn’t had water for a day and has collapsed.

He says he is near Mount Solitary and the Kedumba River in the Blue Mountains National Park, west of Sydney.

When asked what the nearest town is, the 17-year-old Sydney Grammar student says: “No idea maybe probably Katoomba … probably, may not be”.

In the later calls played at the inquest in the NSW Coroner’s Court at Penrith, he appears to become more and more frustrated when asked for the closest town.

Counsel assisting the coroner, Jeremy Gormly SC, said David had likely repeated “Katoomba” to police, ambulance and the Telstra emergency operators about 14 or 15 times.

In his closing submissions, Mr Gormly went over evidence of how David’s calls for help had been mismanaged.

David had been treated with little empathy or courtesy by NSW Ambulance Service operators, who repeatedly insisted he must give them a street address so help could be sent, he said.

“It’s clear that the triple-zero service failed David and his family … there was a lack of courtesy and empathy,” Mr Gormly told the inquest.

“It contributed to the frustration of his final hours and contributed to delays in finding his body.”

Mr Gormly also emphasised that information about David’s location and condition was not passed on to rescuers.

He called for a full review of the ambulance service’s emergency call system, and for consideration to be given to integrating all emergency agencies’ systems.

“There do seem to have been systemic issues and training issues which suggest the need for a very significant review,” he said.

Counsel representing the ambulance service, Michael Windsor SC, said his client knew of its obligation to improve its operations.

The three Sydney Grammar School students were also working from navigation data sheets with information about water supplies drawn up by their teacher Jim Forbes for a winter hike they had planned to take in June, Mr Gormly said.

The school denies prior knowledge of the planned three-day trip during scorching temperatures in December, but Mr Forbes had helped them plan proposed June trip, the inquest has been told.

“(Mr Forbes) says that if he had been asked about a December trip … his advice about the availability of water on Mt Solitary would have been different because there would not have been the same water retention – there were hot, dry conditions.”

The inquest will resume on Monday with Deputy State Coroner Carl Milovanovich expected to hand down his findings later next week.

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