The last 8 months have been hell. My husband Carlos had a stroke while on a painting job at work – yet unbelievably, it took the builder 40 minutes to call an ambulance. His employer paid him up until the moment he had the stroke, not a minute longer. 

During the stroke, Carlos first lost feeling in his legs. One carpenter saw him hanging from a window, but after saying he needed help the carpenter walked away. This moment still haunts him.

He fell inside and landed on his back, but believes he lay there for a long time before two carpenters passed him - one saying 'he doesn't look right'. They called the Builder in, who said this looked serious but the first people he rang were Carlos' painting boss, then his foreman. The painting foreman arrived and said he would pack Carlos' gear so he could drive him home. Carlos was passing in and out of consciousness. He could barely move or talk. He could hear those present chatting about whether he might have diabetes. 

It was 40 minutes before anyone called an ambulance. It was more than an hour before the ambulance arrived. And because no one told the ambulance that Carlos was in a confined and elevated space, more time was lost . When the ambulance arrived it had to contact fire emergency services to winch him out. He arrived at the hospital more than 3 hours after the stroke.

It defies belief that a construction company can be so negligent. It was disgusting, and almost cost Carlos his life – yet still Work Safe haven't investigated their dangerous behaviour.

Carlos was denied compensation, with WorkCover arguing his stroke was unrelated to work. It has been one let down after another.

To add insult, the company took months to return Carlos' tools, and half of them were missing.

During a major stroke, medical attention is time critical – but they didn't seem to have any clue what to do in an emergency.  Painting ceilings is labelled a stroke risk, yet the government has never issued a safety directive to the painting industry. This needs to happen immediately.

Carlos has fought against the odds to learn how to walk again, regain balance and deal with debilitating pain. All we want to do now is move on – but we can't knowing that the companies haven't been held to account and the industry is treating stroke emergencies like this.

Please help us obtain some justice for the treatment of Carlos – through a proper investigation and urgent stroke safety directive from Work Safe Qld.