(29 Aug 2014, 7:41 pm)Dan wrote It's so interesting how much is done behind the scenes, and as a passenger (indeed even as an enthusiast), you really do not appreciate how much work is done to make the things you see on the road a reality.
As someone who has absolutely no interest in engineering (and I made this clear on multiple occasions to those who asked me about coming back for an engineering apprenticeship), I was rather surprised indeed to see how much work has to be done for engineering tools before the company's fitters can even get their hands on them. Although I understood nothing at all about the process, I used a little machine to test the vibration levels of a tool. I recorded the numbers that the machine gave me, and used a spreadsheet to calculate the times that the fitters can use the tool for.
The Risk Management Department comprises of lots of different jobs - you've mentioned just a few. Fire Risk Assessments are regularly undertaken and are reviewed prior to the recommended date if any incidents happen, to accommodate for the nature of the incident to prevent it happening again.
Although the Health & Safety meetings weren't the most interesting part of my time in the RMD, it was good experience to be sitting in meetings (and this was commented on by my head teacher, after my arrival at school from Chester-le-Street mentioned a few days ago). As I had attended more than one of these meetings, I was able to comment on things which were problematic across multiple depots when it was queried - so I even had useful input to the meetings too.
The same applied in the meeting I attended about accidents. As you mentioned, I attended the MORR meeting held earlier this month. A project team of 12 individuals has been formed, all from different departments in the company. The aim of the game is to reduce the amount of accidents across the company by the end of this financial year, with the directors of the company wanting to see an improvement by a certain percentage. I had quite a bit of input during this meeting, which was held all day, and I put forward a suggestion which has been taken on board as a factor to monitor throughout this project. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to keep up to date with the project now that I'm no longer with Go North East, but I really hope that they keep me posted as it is a really interesting project, and it could potentially see a lot of changes for how things work behind the scenes (all the way from the recruitment department onwards!)
Bensham is rather quiet, as you know, but this is to be expected when the three directors of the company are sitting with their doors wide open. A lot of group-based reporting is done at Bensham, especially at the end of period, and it's just crazy how much reporting has to be done. I can't imagine how you guys would cope without Excel! I have to admit that the work done at Bensham isn't quite as interesting as the work done at Riverside (at least from what I experienced and observed). Nevertheless, this was all beneficial experience and I'm very pleased indeed that I had the chance to see all of this. Citaro5284, on my behalf, please thank those at Bensham who made this possible. I said my goodbyes to everyone at Riverside today and they were all quite sad to see me leave - and the feeling was mutual for me with them too.
So the whole experience has bit of an eye opener for you, because, as enthusiasts we don't appreciate what goes on behind the scenes and tend to curse the companies about stuff that we can't possibly know about.
It is good that you have had access to the inside, I think your experience sounds good, not just exploring future career paths, but benefits you as an Enthusiast as well, and benefits this community in a small way, it is good for NEB to have people on the inside in my opinion