SASKATOON — Not all heroes wear capes, and Tara Elliott is one of them, as she continues to advocate for a safer workplace after her family went through a tragical experience six years ago, when her father, Stephen, died in a work-related accident.
Elliott's dad was a machinist, working on lathes to shape such materials as aluminum, steel and plastic, and milling for almost three decades. Despite being a safe worker and teaching new employees, an unfortunate workplace accident cost him his life.
“We don’t know what exactly went wrong or what he missed, but it ended up taking his life. It has been difficult, but that's kind of the nature of a hazardous job. You always have to think about safety, because things change quickly,” Elliott told SaskToday.
“I am encouraged, motivated and inspired by everyone's personal story of workplace safety, but my drive also comes from wanting to prevent things like this from happening to others. That's the main thing."
Elliott was one of the keynote speakers at TCU Place at the Saskatchewan Workers’ Compensation Board’s 27th Compensation Institute event on Wednesday, May 21. She volunteers with Threads of Life, an association for workplace tragedy family support.
She works as a full-time safety co-ordinator and is a member of Threads of Life’s Speakers Bureau, where she discusses the importance of a safe work environment and employees returning home safely to their families.
Elliott added that what happened to her father led her to return to school and study to become an occupational health and safety practitioner, shifting her career from being a mechanical drafter for 10 years to becoming an advocate for workplace health and safety.
“Before I entered the health and safety field, I worked as a mechanical drafter in industries such as mining. I worked in high-hazard areas, so I was very aware of safety and safety regulations, and what was involved with safety,” said Elliott.
“Now I've shifted and worked more directly in those safety positions. I worked as a safety co-ordinator for a company for five years, and now I'm working at the Saskatchewan Construction Safety Association as a safety auditor.”
She explained that a safety auditor is involved in the safety program, helping people develop and improve their safety programs. She added that becoming directly involved in workplace safety became her passion.
Getting back to normal
Elliott said she did not know she had post-traumatic stress disorder until someone got seriously injured.
“So, my response to that was visceral. I couldn't breathe, and I couldn't function. So, my advice would be that if you feel yourself having those types of reactions to your job or stress within your life, you need to shift your focus,” said Elliott.
She added that those issues and feelings of anxiety rarely go away completely, and something will always trigger those responses, especially if you are working in an industry or career where the opportunity for the stress response to come out is higher.
“I suggest that people choose a different career path or change their lifestyle so that they can avoid them, participate in yoga and breathing techniques and [find] ways to cope with that stress. But that trauma is embedded in your mind. It always comes out, so yeah, it's tricky,” said Elliott.
“It has taken a long time to return to some normal status quo, but grief is interesting, because at the beginning it's everything and all-consuming. You can barely breathe when something like this happens, but as time passes, you change and grow.”
Elliott said she improved her life by using grief to motivate her to go in other directions, while her mom learned how to live life without their father, who was always there helping and taking care of his family. Her sister, however, is grieving privately but has grown and is slowly getting there.
