• Question: What is the largest problem facing your department and its staff?

    Asked by rattyvlogger to Graham, Luke, Maksim, Ruth on 23 Jun 2014.
    • Photo: Maksim Schastny

      Maksim Schastny answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      I am an apprentice and I haven’t worked in my current department long enough in order to answer this question. Sorry

      However, what I can answer is the challenges apprentices have to meet. As an apprentice, we have a number of things we need to make sure we do all the time. As well as working on site 4 days a week, we must attend a college one day a week in order to further our knowledge. This begins with completing BTEC Level 3 Diploma in Engineering and then we carry on to study HNC (Higher National Certificate). Parallel to this, we also have to produce a number of log books or evidence records. Each one of these documents is completed when a new task/job is carried out. It contains diary, method, problems encountered etc. notes and used to mark criteria for NVQ (National Vocational Qualification) Level 3.

    • Photo: Graham Wiggins

      Graham Wiggins answered on 23 Jun 2014:

      rattyvlogger – another hard question 🙂
      In what way ?
      from different views come different risks….
      1/ air accident – we are under a flightpath, so could be a risk there…
      2/ company “down the road / round the corner” poaching staff by offering better wages…. might motivate some people …..
      3/ power cuts. No electric = no laser = ?
      4/ change in funding. eg no income = no jobs
      5/ unrest/civil issues affecting transport – just look at how the country ground to a halt during fuel price protests. ( I cycled a lot that week ) If you can’t get to work, the boss won’t be happy paying you when you’re sat by the river feeding the ducks ( or down the pub ! ) instead….
      6/ political change –
      Those are my views, someone else may find something else

    • Photo: Ruth Gregory

      Ruth Gregory answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Hi,

      I would say the largest problem we face is keeping the quality of work, decreasing time and ensuring work is carried out safely. Network Rail are constantly looking for quicker and safer ways of working and they put a lot of pressure on the Great western Electrification project to make changes to their method of working. The project is based on high output, this means that we take timings of what and when work is done. This can then be used to cut out certain procedures that slow the work down.

    • Photo: anon

      anon answered on 24 Jun 2014:

      Morning,

      the largest problem facing my department and its staff is funding. we have so many projects ready to go ahead with and great ideas for the area, but we need more money coming in. funding applications to Europe and Scottish Government are part of the day job and it is hard work pulling together all that info.

      thanks

      claire

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