Workplace health and safety is one of the most important factors that employers should ensure for his employees. In fact, it is actually a responsibility of the owner or of the management to make sure that everyone who works in the company are given enough security. This will not just be beneficial for the employees, but also for the company. If an employee is working in a safe and healthy workplace, it will reflect on their work and their efficiency. If their employees work efficiently, it is suffice to say that company growth and success will come in no time.

A company should be able to provide his employees with the right compensation insurance. Take for an instance the case of one of our OALASA members. He worked as a coal miner and unfortunately, he was amputated from an accident that occurred in his workplace few months ago. The doctors had to cut both of his legs off, making this hard for him to work again. His company paid for his medical bills and gave him the correct amount of compensation that he needs to start over in his life.

Of course, prevention is still better than cure, that is why companies are advised to require their employees to attend training courses on emergency preparedness, emergency rescues and other preventative measures. This will able the employees to know the right thing to do when they are in such kind of situation.

It is also good to take note for employees or applicants to make sure that their company provides insurance, especially when your job description includes accident-prone activities. They should always think about their workplace health and safety because it is for their benefit too.

Climbing the 19,349-foot mountain is just part of the Warfighter Sports Challenge, a series of extreme events for permanently disabled war veterans, such as a 26-mile desert run, a 100-mile bike ride and a 90-mile downhill skiing, kayaking and mountain biking. This is under the Wounded Warrior Disabled Sports Project, a program that focuses on the welfare of the permanently disabled veterans from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and is run by Disabled Sports USA, a non-profit organization that offers therapy programs for soldiers and civilians all over America through sports.

The amputee veterans had a difficult time going up Kilimanjaro’s summit even though its peak is not that technical. It can be reached by walking and holding on to the boulders of the mountain. Most of the amputee veterans’ prosthetic body parts froze as they climbed up. But these challenges have motivated them—they did it for themselves and also for the memorials of the other soldiers who gave their life for their country.

The Warfighters group also participate in the annual Bataan Memorials Death March, a 26-mile marathon trail of rocks and sand in New Mexico done every March to commemorate the sacrifices and the sufferings of the American and Filipino soldiers during the World War II. This is also considered as America’s largest military memorial march.

For those of you who don’t know, Gary and Maria are being married at the beautiful Hope Christian Church on the 26 September this year, and if for some reason you haven’t been invited don’t worry, Gary and Maria told me to let you all know that everyone from the OALASA community is welcome! Just get in contact with them so that they can organise some more invitations to be printed off, thanks to Magnet Invitations in Sydney.

We wish Gary and Mary all the best, both for their wedding day and for their future. Well done Gary, you’ve done us proud!

Oalasa’s entry at this year’s event consisted of 16 eager competitors, specialising in 4 of the various sports; the 100 metre sprint, the 200 metre sprint, women’s basketball, and men’s basketball. All in all this team threatened to be one of the most successful ever put together by the Oalasa organisation, and their results are proof that this team was indeed worthy of such high praise:

100 metre sprint results: 4^th place

200 metre sprint results: silver

Women’s basketball: runner up (silver)

Men’s basketball: gold

A special congratulations to the 5 members of the men’s basketball team who managed to overcome injuries to beat the 5 competing teams, and take out the first place gold medal.

A special thanks also to the crew at Eagle Tours, who were kind enough to provide their Sydney bus hire services free of charge, after American company Charter Bus America pulled out of their contract at the last minute. Without their help we may never have been able to afford the trip, and our bright young stars would have been denied their outstanding achievements.