WHEN Bernie Stiles stepped into Kyeema Support Services chief executive Julie Amor’s shoes at 5pm last Thursday, she could scarcely have imagined what was about to happen in the next two hours.

After promising the building would be fine during Ms Amor’s period of leave, she was back at the Lalor St offices little more than one hour later, as the hailstorm that rocked Portland left a trail of devastation through the disability services provider.

The main dining room copped the brunt of the damage, at times resembling an outdoor area instead of an indoor one, while the office block wasn’t spared either.

“Because of how big the hailstones were they blocked up the guttering and with the flat roof they had nowhere to go but under (into the rooms),” Ms Stiles said.

It was all hands to the deck for both staff and volunteers as they worked frantically to clear some of the mess – Ms Stiles is a longstanding member of the Portland SES unit but had to excuse herself from duty that night to look after Kyeema.

The extent of the damage soon became evident, a lot of the participants’ craft and musical items substantially damaged.

“There’s going to be a lot of lost stuff,” Ms Stiles said.

The power had to be shut off for the next three days as well to allow the electrics to dry out.

That meant Kyeema couldn’t access basic things like staff rosters and the like.

“We were just winging it but the staff and participants were absolutely amazing and patient,” Ms Stiles said.

Participants couldn’t come back in to do their daily activities but Westerns Football Netball Club quickly stepped in, offering nearby Alexandra Park for those.

“We’re very grateful to Westerns for that, they’ve been really good, while Portland Bay School also offered us their facilities for the school holidays,” Ms Stiles said.

“Alexandra Park has disability access now which is really good.”

Kyeema’s respite house in Hurd St has also been put into action to help out.

A total of 17 staff work from the offices and about 28 participants take part in the programs there (other activities such as farm visits have not been affected).

“The participants have actually handled it really well,” Ms Stiles said.

“They were quite excited to have a bit of an adventure at the footy ground, we’ll see how that goes though.”

The activities area would be out of action for at least one month as Kyeema works with insurers to assess the damage.

Staff who had offices in the damaged area had been moved to other parts of the building, while a couple were working from home under coronavirus safety precautions.

An Insurance Council of Australia spokeswoman told the Observer that insurers had received 2050 claims from the storms across the state, though the local figure could not be broken out of that.

● Meanwhile, WorkSafe is reminding Portland employers to prioritise safety while working at heights, as workers repair roofs and skylights damaged during the storm.

WorkSafe director or regional operations west Brendan Baker said falls from heights were preventable, yet remained one of the biggest causes of death and serious injuries in Victorian workplaces.

“Even from a relatively low height, a fall can cause very serious injuries, including fractures, spinal cord injury, concussions and brain damage,” Mr Baker said.

“The risk of a fall leading to serious injury or death increases significantly when working at heights over two metres.”

Eight Victorian workers died as a result of falling from heights last year.

“Methods to reduce safety risks when working at height are well known so there is no excuse for ignoring them,” Mr Baker said.

“Employers have a responsibility to identify the risk of falls from any height and make sure appropriate safety control measures are in place to control that risk.”

Employers, contractors and workers undertaking work at height should review and if necessary revise their Safe Work Method Statements to ensure their fall prevention controls were adequate.

WorkSafe “will not hesitate” to prosecute employers who failed to meet their obligations to maintain a safe workplace, Mr Baker said.

For information on fall prevention visit www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/fall-prevention.