Troy Hall survived a high-voltage power line flashover at work on 14 October 2011. He talks openly about the attitude he carried onto site that day and the long recovery that followed.
Troy was told in the first days that he wasn't expected to make it. He's now a father and a business owner and he's seen health and safety from both sides. We talk about why workers stay quiet when speaking up gets you called a snitch, why too much paperwork means none of it gets heard and what he believes changes things on a rough and tough site: respect and people looking out for each other.
What we cover in this episode
- The day of the accident and what led up to it
- How attitude and culture shape the choices people make
- What business owners don't see until something goes badly wrong
- Why speaking up is so hard on site
- Keeping the safety message simple
- Recovery and the reason he kept going
- Respect, community and brotherhood at work
Episode chapters
- 0:00 Introduction
- 1:01 The day of the accident
- 2:03 The attitude behind it
- 5:07 What business owners don't see
- 7:11 Is the law too hard to understand
- 9:14 Speaking up on site
- 11:19 Keeping the message simple
- 14:23 Recovery
- 18:28 His reason to keep going
- 21:32 Hazards people stop noticing
- 24:38 Brotherhood on site
- 28:47 Respect earns respect
- 31:50 What's next for Troy
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This episode sits in the Critical risk on the ground collection. Browse every episode or follow the show on Spotify so you don't miss the next one.
About the host
Matt Jones is the founder of Advanced Safety and a HASANZ-registered health and safety consultant. He's a Professional Member of NZISM, holds a Graduate Diploma in Occupational Safety and Health and founded the New Zealand Health and Safety Professionals community. His book is Raise the Standard: Why Good Organisations Go Blind and How Leaders Restore Visibility.
Guests share their own views and experience. This page is general information, not legal advice. Latest update: 13 November 2026
