Dawsons' Stories

Vicky Torrisi - Demolition Worker

"My job is demolition work, which sort of comes under construction." says Vicky Torrisi, Crew Leader, Licensed Asbestos and Demolition at Dawson’s Engineering. "We remove and replace materials." And dealing with asbestos - it’s done by hand.

"It’s demolition and removal. With demolition comes asbestos removal, which requires a licence. We physically put it apart by hand." Vicky says. "With asbestos, it needs to come off by hand, then after that the cranes do it. It’s gotta be disposed of properly. We wear the overalls and masks. Sometimes you need to wear heavier gear and a heavier enclosed helmet."

"By trade, I’m a butcher. I did that for eight years." Says Vicky. "Then I guess I looked for a bit of extra money, I worked for Bundaberg Sugar: I used to be weighbridge clerk. Then I asked for a job at Dawson’s Engineering, hoping to get into mining, but they didn’t have any mining jobs, all they had was in demolition, so I tried it and I started enjoying it." Says Vicky. "I wasn’t in the same place everyday you get to travel around a bit. It’s not the monotony of 12 hours in the same place. It’s different places all the time." Abut there is a fair bit of travel in her job. She can travel can between 20 minutes or an hour and a half on local jobs. "But Cooktown is a 4 1/2 hour trip."

Or, it might be a job which requires her to stay away for a few days. "Thursday Island requires taking our tools on the Ferry at 6am, until 4.30pm. We have ten to twelve hour days."

"I could be anywhere along the Queensland coast, depending on what jobs come up, what we have to do. Last week I was in Cooktown and we had to remove a roof which had to be replace, and there were asbestos eaves. And next week I’m off to Thursday Island for an upcoming job."

"I was a Butcher - I’ve gone from knives to power saws! I think the indoor stuff kind of gets to you after a while. Even though it’s cleaner inside, the demolition site is quite dirty. I like being outside."

As for advice for women wanting to ender construction, she says: "Just always be confident within yourself and what you’re doing. If you have confidence to shows through I your work. It shows your employer you’re willing to get in an do anything."

"Just go out and give it a go, you might surprised by yourself." Vicky shares. "Especially me being a girl in demolition, and being a supervisor in demolition, it can take you places."

The best part of the job?

I think I just really like the company I work for. Dawson’s are a great family owned company, really supporting of anything you want to do. It gave me the opportunity to give me a go. Got me in more of a supervisory role, where I go out on sites, but I’m still on the tools.

The hardest part of the job?

I wouldn’t say it’s really challenging. Sometimes working away from home is a bit hard with long trips away.

What personal qualities are needed for the job?

I think you just gotta be willing to give it a go. Yeah, I think if you’re willing to work an enjoy what you’re doing, it’s gonna make any job fun.