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Transcript
At Perth Regional Roof Trusses, nearly half of the full time staff have hearing loss. The company has tapped into a new labour market, working with local schools to attract students with hearing loss and offering work experience placements which often lead to permanent jobs.
The effects have been nothing but positive. The use of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) on site has helped all staff communicate in a noisy environment.
Managing Director, Darryl Marshall, says: ‘My name is Darryl Marshall. I'm the Managing Director of Perth Regional Roof Trusses and we're manufacturers of timber wall frames, roof trusses and Posi-Strut floor joists’.
‘As a company, we aim to be successful, to be socially responsible and to provide for a challenging and an enjoyable workplace’.
‘We've built a very good working relationship with Deafinite Employment and, through them, we've been able to successfully employ many hearing impaired people. It hasn't been a problem at all. It's been something that we've enjoyed and also, from a business perspective, has been very successful as well’.
One of these employees is Robert Messenger who is foreman at Perth Regional Roof Trusses. Robert uses Auslan and signs: ‘My name is Robert Messenger and I work for Perth Regional Roof Trusses in Western Australia. My responsibilities here—I'm actually the foreman. I have a lot of liaison with the managers. I operate the forklifts and I supervise all the other workers’.
Darryl says: ‘My advice to other employers would be to give people with a disability a go. My experience has been nothing but positive. We've had a lot of success employing people with disabilities and it's something we'll continue to do into the future.'
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