The Northparkes Emergency Response Team came second overall in the Victorian Mine Rescue Competition last week. This well-respected national competition has been held for 24 years, and attracted ten teams from mines across Australia this year. The Northparkes team, comprised of ERT members Jack Medlyn (captain), Wayne Sargent, Ben Ryan, Linda Snyman, Jade Walker, Jamie Pope and Matt Flynn, took first place in firefighting, theory and first aid.

Northparkes Managing Director Jim Fowler said: “We are enormously proud of our competition team. Our consistent success at this competition reflects the team’s hard work to stay at the leading edge of emergency response practices.” Jim congratulated the winning team from Newcrest-Cadia in Orange.

Team member Linda Snyman, who was one of only three women to compete, said the scenarios set up by the adjudicators were excellent. “Even though everything was staged using actors, it was all very real and we were responding to incidents that could possibly happen at our mine. Taking part in the competition helps to reinforce all the training that we go through on site and has made me a more confident and capable responder.”

The 2017 competition took place in Yallourn, at Energy Australia’s Power Station. Teams competed in a number of challenges demonstrating theoretical and practical mine rescue skills over three days. Linda said: “We are known for our focus on theory and it paid off when we won the overall theory award.”

Northparkes currently has 24 active Emergency Response Team (ERT) members who train year-round to ensure they are ready to assist in case of an emergency. Northparkes Manager People, Safety and Environment Stacey Kelly said: “Competitions such as this allow us to practice our skills and benchmark ourselves against others in the industry.”

The research is clear. Sitting too much is seriously bad for your health. We are now seeing that people who spend most of their day (8+ hours) sitting have doubled the risk of cardiovascular disease and an increased risk of diabetes and early death.

Whether it’s time spent sitting at the office or school, driving, eating or watching TV, a sedentary lifestyle causes serious threats to your health. Additionally, sitting a lot burns very few calories and many studies have linked it to weight gain and obesity.

Human bodies weren’t designed to sit all day, they were designed to move. Muscles and bones both require regular movement or low level activity to maintain strength and help prevent osteoporosis. Reducing sitting time is linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack and reduced incidence of neck and lower back pain.

It’s a common misconception that exercise can compensate for prolonged sitting. Even if you exercise for 30 minutes four times per week, you are still subject to the negative impact of too much sitting. This is a major problem for office workers since they spend most of their day sitting. Low intensity activities like standing and walking are more important than most realise.

Fortunately the use of standing desks is becoming increasingly popular. Standing desks allow you to alternate between sitting and standing. You can either get a kit that allows you to convert your existing desk to an adjustable desk or better still replace it with a sit- stand desk. For optimum health benefits it is recommended to alternate between sitting and standing every 30 minutes.

For the fitness of you,
Linda Reilly

Currajong Disability Services (CDS) celebrated Pink Ribbon Day last week and raised funds for women’s cancer at the same time. Pink Ribbon Day is a regular event on the CDS calendar. “It was a great day and everyone really got involved and supported it,” said Dane Millerd, Marketing and Communications Co-ordinator.

“Pink Ribbon day allows us all to recognise and support the special women in our lives who have been touched by cancer – they are our mothers, sisters, grandmothers and daughters and it’s important we all rally around them.”

Every day in Australia about 50 women are told they have breast or a gynaecological cancer. Sadly, every day around 12 Australian women will die from a women’s cancer.

Almost half of the Coobang Rural Fire Brigade members received long service medals at a ceremony held on the farm Trelawney outside Parkes last week. The 29 long service medals represented a combined total of 954 years of service at one of the oldest and most active rural brigades of the Mid Lachlan Valley Team.

The longest serving member with 64 years is Alan Somers. He joined the brigade in 1953 and became captain in 1960, and president from 1967 to 1997. Assistant Commissioner Jason Heffernan commended Alan on his achievement saying he had joined an elite band of people.

It was a special day for the Somers family, as Alan’s son Gary received his long service medal for 39 years. Gary became president in 1998 and still holds the position. Two other members who received medals for over 50 years of service were Neil Unger with 54 and Leon Laidley with 55 years.

The Deputy Commissioner said the rural fire brigades played a vital role. “If we don’t get out and do it, no one else will.” He warned of the season ahead saying it was going to be a hot and dry summer posing a real challenge to get on top of the situation. Parkes Deputy Mayor Barbara Newton thanked all the members for their bravery and dedication.

By Maggi Barnard

Parkes is going to be the rail freight capital of Australia with plans to build the biggest freight terminal in the country at a cost of $35 million. CEO of Australia’s largest rail freight operator, Pacific National Dean Dalla Valle was in Parkes on Tuesday to unveil the site at the Parkes Logistics Hub with Mayor Ken Keith. “This project will turn our dream of the Parkes Logistics Hub into reality,” the Mayor said.

“It is wonderful to be here at the site,” said Dean. “Located at the intersection of the main western railway line running from Sydney to Perth, the future Inland Rail corridor from Melbourne to Brisbane, and the Newell Highway, Parkes is the perfect place to establish a major intermodal freight terminal,” Dean said.

Once fully operational, the terminal will have the capacity to process up to 500,000 cargo containers each year, including the ability to haul double-stacked containers from Parkes to Perth.

Construction of Parkes Logistics Terminal will generate 50 full time jobs and opportunities for local construction work, while the future terminal will provide up to 20 new skilled jobs including train drivers and terminal crew.

The double lane terminal will be 1.8km long, making it the biggest in the country with Perth’s 1.2km terminal the second longest.