Free The Girl in the Hard Hat by Loretta Hill Page A

turned away without meeting his eyes. ‘Let’s get on with this. We have a lot to get through.’
    She wasn’t lying about that.
    At the same time she knew she’d lost them all after the words ‘Hazard Cards’ and ‘Incident Reporting’ came out of her mouth. It wasn’t that they didn’t know that they should be reporting possible areas of risk on the job or where the paperwork for that reporting was to be found. It was just that they seemed to only want to do it ‘when there was time’.
    Wendy had to face it. On a job like this, there was never any of this ‘time’. Engineers didn’t just go back to work after a lunch hour and think, ‘Hey, I’ve got a spare few hours, I might analyse the safety of our methods.’ It was something they had to make time for. By the end of the meeting she knew she was banging her head against a brick wall. She hadn’t really persuaded them to change their habits at all. Perhaps she’d taken the wrong approach getting them all together like this, so that they could gang up on her. She resolved to raise the issue with them again individually in the coming weeks. Maybe she would have more progress that way.
    ‘Just one more thing before everyone goes.’
    Everyone with the exception of Lena sighed. She stubbornly ignored it. ‘It has come to my attention that we do not have a CMT.’ Their faces were blank. ‘Cyclone Management Team,’ she clarified. ‘In the event of a cyclone, it’s these people who will give this site direction. Carl has suggested that the following personnel form this group in addition to himself. They are Gavin, Lance, Bill, Lena and myself.’
    ‘Who’s Bill?’ Fish demanded.
    Wendy sighed. ‘It’s Chub.’
    ‘Oh.’ Everyone around the table murmured, understanding.
    ‘ Anyway ,’ Wendy pulled them back on point, ‘just giving you a heads up because I’ll be calling a meeting of these people next month.’
    No one deigned to reply to this remark, which she figured showed perfectly their levels of enthusiasm. She let out a breath. ‘All right, that’s all. You can go.’
    It was like the school bell just went. Their faces lit up as they pushed out their chairs and shoved on their hard hats, practically jumping over each other to get out the door.
    One of the engineers, however, wasn’t so lucky making her quick escape.
    Wendy waylaid Lena at the door, hoping to make a start on studying and coaching individuals immediately. Also, perhaps a fellow female might be able to give her some support. But Lena looked wary when she heard her request.
    ‘Do you mind if I tag along with you out to the wharf? I feel like I need to see a team in action before I can make any more judgements.’
    ‘Er, sure . . . when?’ She couldn’t miss the uncomfortable hesitation in Lena’s voice.
    ‘Right now.’
    Again Lena seemed reluctant, looking away as though searching for an excuse. Wendy sighed inwardly. So the one person she thought might give her a chance was also going to let her down. It was going to be an uphill battle all the way. She opened her mouth to say, ‘Don’t worry about it,’ when Lena suddenly straightened her shoulders.
    ‘Of course.’
    ‘Really?’
    ‘Definitely.’ The honey blonde gave her a lovely smile. ‘Come with me.’
    They grabbed their hard hats and boarded Sharon’s bus together. Sharon was happy to see them. ‘You ladies look like you’re up to no good.’
    ‘Don’t look at me,’ Lena joked back. ‘Wendy’s the one springing the surprise inspection.’
    Sharon raised her eyebrows and Wendy wrinkled her nose. ‘Oh, it’s not like that – just a friendly visit.’
    ‘Speaking of friendly visits,’ Sharon grinned at her in the rear-vision mirror. ‘Why haven’t we been seeing you at dinner?’
    Wendy blushed. ‘Oh, I . . .’ she began and then was unable to finish. The can of worms labelled I’m looking for my father was one she didn’t want to open in public.
    ‘The boys say you’ve been taking