A Day In The Life
We want to show you what our team gets up to on a day-to-day basis.
Our job profile is written by Paul Straw who works as a Water Regulations Inspector.
Name
Paul Straw
Job Title
Water regulations inspector
Hometown
Sheffield
Duration at Yorkshire Water
35 years in October
What does your day to day job involve?
My job is to enforce the Governments Water Regulations the main part that I concentrate on is the prevention of contamination of water supplies so water regulations inspections are the main part of an inspectors job.
Appointments are made by our administration team for each inspector. The inspection involves looking at all fittings and industrial processes that involve the use of water and to identify possible risks that could cause backflow into the water supply and contaminate it.
This year we are concentrating on inspecting chemical works and healthcare premises such as nursing homes and hospitals but in a day an inspector can visit a range of different businesses. One day I could be at a school and a few hours later I could be walking near a blast furnace in a steel works and advising on the plumbing installation for cooling. Because of this we think our job is one of the most interesting and varied ones within Yorkshire Water.
During the inspection we give technical advice to the customer on what they need to do to their water systems to comply with the regulations, but it doesn't finish there. I will then have to produce a report for the customer, which is sent out by the administration team.
Talking to customers is all in a days work for me and being able to give guidance on the complexities of the Water Regulations is a key part of my job. It could be a plumber who understands the technicalities, but it may be a domestic customers who knows nothing about plumbing - being able to get the message across to different audiences is important.
We also receive drawings for major new developments these need to all be looked at to make sure that they comply with the regulations and can take quite a bit of time to asses.
What types of business customers do you work with?
Our job involves working with a range of people these include domestic customers, plumbers, architects, design teams and managing directors of companies. Every one who is involved in installing maintaining, designing and using plumbing systems can get advice from the team regarding complying with the Water regulations. The advice can involve discussions regarding the design of a plumbing system for a new super store or the installation of back flow protection on a domestic washing machine.
How many people are in your team?
We have a team of three inspectors who visit business to carry out inspections and two administration staff who have a busy time booking appointments and sending out the reports we produce as well as talking to the business. This last year the inspectors carried out over 800 site inspections. As you can see from the number of contacts we have with businesses excellent customer service is important to the team.
Is there anything unusual about your job or has anything unusual happened to you whilst at work?
Once we were investigating a contamination incident and had been visiting farms in this particular area, we came upon an unusual type of farmer who reared rhea. After nearly completing the inspection the farmer asked us if we were afraid of animals as we needed to go into the pen where the animals were kept. His instructions were to make sure we keep him between the rhea and ourselves; not very easy as the rhea had other ideas. Believe me trying to run around a muddy field with a very big bird chasing you trying to give you a good pecking wasn't my idea of fun! Still we lived to inspect another day.
Please see below a video of Paul in action, to watch it just click the play button in the middle of the video.
