Meet Rachel our Occupational Hygiene Consultant, who recently joined the Health and Safety team here at Bradley’s. We asked her some questions to find out more about her job role and what she enjoys about it.
Where did you work before and what was your job role?
ESG Bretby – Occupational Hygiene Technologist.
What made you get into the field and how long have you been in it for?
I have been in the Environmental Consultancy sector since finishing university, and have worked in Occupational Hygiene for approximately 2 years. Before that, I had several roles carrying out Air Quality assessments for Environmental Impact Assessments and site work for Stack Emissions Testing and Contaminated Land work. I find Occupational Hygiene the most interesting as I’m pretty nosey and it’s good to get to have a look at what people do for their jobs!
Can you give us an example of one of your most memorable pieces of work?
One of the jobs I most enjoyed was organising workplace monitoring for a company in Tamworth – this was really interesting as it involved several visits and covered a whole range of risks including dust, noise, chemical exposure and whole-body vibration. I also have had to do jobs which were memorable for the wrong reasons! Such as emissions monitoring for a series of rendering factories in Ireland. The smell was disgusting and the experience made me decide to go vegan for over a year!
Tell us a little bit about your current job role at Bradley’s?
I currently look after Occupational Hygiene work – which mainly consists of noise and dust exposure assessments. When I’m in the office I’m usually putting together quotes, communicating with the labs, helping clients decide what scope of monitoring they need and writing up reports. When I’m out on site, my day normally involves allocating personal sampling pumps or noise dosebadges for people to wear during their shift, carrying out assessments of noise in the workplace with a hand-held sound level meter and observing site work and practices in order to be able to advise the client on any areas they can improve upon to meet regulations and their legal requirements.
What do you enjoy about it?
I enjoy getting to see loads of different activities and peoples work life – I’m becoming a bit of an expert in all manner of things from wood work to quarrying! I also find it really rewarding to think that I may help to make someone’s daily life safer.
Why did you apply to Bradley’s?
Living in Stourbridge, I was looking for a position closer to home, working at Bradley’s has let me find a better work/life balance.
How was the recruitment process?
The recruitment process was straight forward and everyone I met along the way was very enthusiastic. It was good to have Kim as a point of contact throughout too.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I ride mountain bikes and compete in 4X – which is like a muddy off road version of BMX. I’ve been competing at national level and am ranked #1 in the country for my age group so am hoping to do some international races next year. I also roller skate and help run Chicks in Bowls Birmingham – which is a club aiming to get more women (and men!) into skate parks on roller skates – and I have a small home business converting trainers into roller skates.
At Bradley Environmental we acknowledge that our employees are a key factor in all our achievements and our track record in service delivery is founded on the skills and team ethic of our talented personnel. Click here to find out more and apply for our current vacancies.
