For Paula Homan, Director of Engineering Services at HSB, it is further evidence of how vital the role of the engineer surveyor is, because even though they were ostensibly invisible on the front line, businesses would not have been able to operate without the validation and support those engineers provided.
“You don’t see them as it’s not a glory job, but they’ve kept things moving. I would like to say thank you to our engineers for what they have done over the last year and half. Our engineers were going out working through the pandemic keeping businesses operating: the NHS, manufacturing, food, retail - they still needed our engineers to maintain their services,” said Paula.
Multi-skilled engineers
“Our engineers are extremely versatile and multi-disciplined. They work across multiple divisions of the industry. It could be a brewery one day, a car manufacturer the next, then a hotel, a school, a hospital. Anything mechanical or electrical, they can inspect. They can be undervalued, but not usually by the client because they know what is required,” said Paula.
HSB continually invest in their engineers by offering professional development opportunities at every career stage; it allows them to choose which direction they want to take, whether that be into management, consultancy, or another route.
“We also have technical trainers. We have principal engineers who specialise in disciplines. You can go into management roles because the opportunity to progress is huge. We’re making new roles available all the time,” said Paula.
Entry routes
Typically, there are two traditional routes into the profession, though HSB is now funding a wide-reaching apprenticeship programme that aims to attract engineers from more diverse backgrounds than it does currently.
“Engineers in our industry usually come from traditional engineering sectors like manufacturing and it’s most likely their second role post qualification. The second entry route is from ex-service personnel: Merchant Navy, RAF, and The Army; many engineers of ours are ex-military because it offers a very good second career for them, and for us, coming from service guarantees industry experience.
“We know that we need to have more apprentices and we are taking steps towards that end. We offer the first SAFed-accredited apprenticeships in the UK. It allows engineers to come in with a little experience then take an HNC with us. I hope that we can bring a younger generation in through this route. We have four new apprentices so far this year and we have plans to have 20. We need to start building a workforce for the future because there’s a lack of diversity in engineering that we need to address. We’re recruiting from a less diverse base, so we’ve got to do more; apprenticeships are a way to bring in people from different backgrounds and genders,” said Paula.
HSB is sponsoring the Engineer Surveyor of the Year award at the SOE Safety and Sustainability awards. Its part of a wider initiative to create awareness of the role and to start recognising special engineering talent.
Sponsorship
“We have integrated this sponsorship directly into the initiative this year. We have got our own internal Engineer of the Year nomination happening now; it is a great way to recognise talent and create a role model with a good set of behaviours who others can aspire to. They must be an advocate of engineering firstly and be able to use their skills to inspire other potential engineer surveyors. They will then be put forward for the SOE award. We are trying to get momentum going because we need to create more role models,” concluded Paula.
