Brief overview of my career to date

I was introduced to mining at the age of 16 completing 10 years as a miner before joining the Mines Rescue Service in 1991. I am still employed by Mines Rescue and have worked my way through the ranks to Operations Manager which I have been doing for the last 5 years.
 
During my time in Mines Rescue, I have responded and been involved in many underground incidents including falls of ground, fires, explosions, inrushes and unfortunately, have dealt with many fatalities.
 
Over the years, I have worked with many civil engineering companies i.e. Balfour Beatty, Skanska, Costain, BAM Nuttall, Strabag and more….

I am a registered trainer with CITB to deliver the TSTS training course and am a member of TunnelSkills which is a specialist training forum for the UK tunnelling industry.

More detail – for those who want to know a little more

I left school in 1981 to become a miner following my father’s footsteps. Initially, I served my time working on the surface of the mine in many different departments until I was of an age to work underground. The tasks assigned to youngsters of that age were menial type jobs such as transfer point attendants, belt clean-up and materials. Through the years, I gained experience in mining disciplines such transporting materials and personnel, drilling, pumping, cutting, shot-creting and learned about production and new technologies.

I transferred departments to join the Mines Rescue’s part-time brigade, acting as a retainer in the event of an emergency. It was whilst I was on the initial course of instruction, that I applied to join the permanent corps. In August 1991, I started at the Doncaster Mines Rescue Station (DMRS).

I was very quickly initiated into the Mines Rescue way of life, many hours of ‘on-call’ duty and many different emergencies to deal with.  I had the opportunity to become more educated not only internally for the job role, but commercially also. I spent 3 years at DMRS but unfortunately, with the demise of the industry, DMRS closed in April 1994.

I again transferred, this time, to Selby Mines Rescue Station (SMRS) where I was stationed as a Brigadesman. I built on my education learning initially, to become a training instructor in many H&S disciplines such as first aid, fire-fighting and manual handling and completed the Nebosh NGC in 1999. Our primary function at that time was to provide a 24/7 first response emergency rescue service to the Yorkshire based collieries and as a second ‘call’ to our sister stations in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire & the North East.

In 2002 I took a Diploma in Business Studies and having taken a liking to H&S, I completed my Diploma in 2004. In 2005, after a 2 year training program, I qualified as a Rescue Officer. During this time, again, due to the closure of the Selby coalfield in 2004, we relocated into the grounds of Kellingley Colliery to serve what was left of the mining industry.

In 2005 I was appointed as a Sub-Officer looking after the manpower requirements for running the site and became involved in marketing our product/service provision. In 2007 I was promoted to Station Officer receiving further responsibility and in 2013, became the Station Deputy Manager, responsible for all day-to-day operations for the site including overseeing ISO 9001, 14001 & OSHAS 18001. I was also responsible for providing consultancy with regard to health & safety training and particularly specialised in the development confined spaces reports including risk assessments, PTW, categorisation, identification and emergency on-site rescue cover, many of which, related to tunnelling and underground works.

In April 2016, I was appointed as Operations Manager for Yorkshire, Lancashire & Humberside with responsibilities all aspects of our operations including financial budgetary requirements.

I have had the good fortune to work overseas providing H&S consultancy including auditing the clients Fatal Hazard Standards

I have been and continue to be involved in tunnel work providing a rescue presence for entrants conducting tunnelling work and offering consultancy on best practice to several top civils companies. I am a registered trainer with CITB to deliver the TSTS course which I have delivered at various locations such as Hinckley Point.