Health & Safety - Case Studies

Rank on Exit: Mne

Years of Service: 4

Qualifications Gained: NVQ in Public Services

 

After just over four years in the Royal Marines, having served in locations including Afghanistan and Norway, and specialising in heavy weapons, Mne Colin Rees left the Armed Forces in November 2007 to ‘seek new challenges’.

The skills and aptitudes gained in the military that he now finds useful in civilian life include ‘confidence, teaching ability, self-discipline, fitness, teamwork and communication skills’. In terms of qualifications, he gained an NVQ in Public Services while serving, and Industrial Rope Access Trade Association (IRATA) level 1 on a resettlement training course run by AssetCo Technical Rescue, which he found well run and useful.

 

His first civilian job after leaving the Forces was offshore work that came about following ‘personal hand delivery of my CV to offshore companies’. Following this work offshore, he explains, ‘I got a job with my IRATA training provider, AssetCo. In this role I used my IRATA training to instruct Confined Space Access and Rescue courses, and Working at Height courses to industry and the emergency services. AssetCo also gave me some training in rescue equipment management and water rescue.

 

‘This job proved excellent preparation for my current job as a firefighter’, which he found via ‘personal recommendation following the IRATA Rope Access course’. He says that ‘although, traditionally, firefighters are seen as dealing with fires and rescuing people from burning buildings, the firefighters of today respond to a wide range of emergencies including road traffic collisions, people who are trapped, chemical spillages and the new threats associated with terrorism’.

 

He enjoys the ‘teamwork, working with the community, danger and excitement, and fitness’ required by his work. In the communication, fitness and teamwork aspects of his job, he finds particular parallels with his Service career, while one welcome difference is an increase in salary.

Rank on Exit: Chief Petty Officer

Years of Service: 24

Qualifications Gained: NVQ4 and Certificate in Management

 

Despite 20 days ‘excellent and fantastic’ resettlement training in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages at Oxford TEFL College in Barcelona, ex-Chief Petty Officer Paul Attrell now works as an auditor for Isoqar. Aged 44 he had completed 24 years in the Royal Navy as an artificer weapons data specialist, serving aboard several ships, exchanges with the US and New Zealand navies, fleet maintenance bases, instructional postings, commissioning and trials, and quality, safety and environmental duties.

 

He believes that experience in training, mentoring, staff appraisal, quality and safety auditing are useful in his new career. Qualifications he gained during service including ISO 9001 Lead Auditor, NEBOSH Certificate, NVQ4 and Certificate in Management, and a City & Guilds in Technical Authorship.

 

Attrell found employment through Google, followed by an e-mail approach with CV and the offer of free work days. The job was as Lead ISO 9001 Quality Auditor. After further training he now also conducts audits in such fields as the environment, health and safety, information systems, security and fire extinguisher maintenance. Since January 2008 he has been travelling, mostly driving a company-provided car across southern UK from Devon to Norfolk, visiting different clients and conducting audits.

 

He enjoys little interference and manages his own time management, but covers 24,000 miles a year, with some early starts and late finishes; however, he is not away from home for months on time. He has to pay for such items as work clothes dental work and prescriptions and rarely works with any colleagues, so that ‘loneliness’ can occasionally be an issue. He earns £27,800 a year.