“I’ve been in this role a year and a half and I’ve loved my experience so far!” says Regan Collins, Trainee Installations Supervisor at Selwood.
Regan previously worked in the clean water industry for 10 years and joined Selwood in September 2022 as an Installation Operative when his friend recommended the position.
“I’d heard about how great a place Selwood was to work from my friend, so when the position came up, I applied straight away. The company benefits such as paid travel, really attracted me to the role.”
Since then, he has been promoted to Trainee Installations Supervisor, with a view to soon step up to Installations Supervisor after completing his NVQ Level 3.
Regan’s position means he’s “on site ninety percent of the time.” His main responsibility is to supervise pump installations for planned and emergency works.
“Before a new job starts, I write the RAMS (Risk Assessment Method Statement), which identifies the steps we need to follow to undertake the work safely. From this, I need to brief whoever is working on the job with me, which could be an operative, crane driver and electrician, so we are all aware of what is going to happen and of any potential risks or hazards.
“I make sure the install is completed to the highest quality and standard Selwood are renowned for. They are often complex jobs, that might require the over pump to run along a road, across a train station bridge, down an alleyway and through a back garden! This type of work will take a lot of planning and communication, and several days to complete.
“We recently completed planned works for a local water framework. It was overpump involving two lines, 12-inch pipework spanning over 120 metres plus re-routing five 8-inch pipelines covering the same distance. As a supervisor, I’d never seen one of these bigger jobs through from start to finish. In my previous role, I would move onto the next job once the installation was complete. It was so interesting to work on a job in a supervisory role and be able to see the project through from beginning to end – it’s very rewarding to see the client happy as a result of the hard work from the team.”
When he’s not on site, Regan helps to get equipment ready for hire at the depot. This could involve loading and unloading equipment from lorries or maintaining pumps.
Training and teamwork
Regan has already achieved a number of qualifications during his at employment at Selwood, including a Forklift Licence and Confined Spaces accreditation, but has valued learning on the job from other supervisors and his manager alike.
“I’ve completed a few qualifications to get me to a Trainee Supervisor role, including IOSH and SSSTS training. I’m yet to start but am looking forward to completing my NVQ 3. This company is great for career progression and will support you to get the qualifications you need.
“Teamwork is also a big part of my role. Often, there are only a few of us on site at one time but it’s great to work with other companies as well as my colleagues, such as teams from our framework partners.
“If we didn’t work as a team, we’d be working against each other, which wouldn’t pay off in our industry.”