What we did on our dream placement

On Wednesday 14th February we left Westlakes science park at 07:30 and travelled to the Wood head offices at Birchwood. On arrival, we were introduced to 'Woody' who throughout the day took us on a tour of most of the site. Woody explained to us what his job was and got a colleague who had recently finished his apprenticeship to explain what it was like, how he managed to get the apprenticeship, and what his job now entails.

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The first part of the tour was to the workshop (Newton house) where we were took around the building and told about new welding designs and past jobs that the welders and engineers had built/worked on. We learned about the dangers of welding and how the welding arc can severely damage your eyes if you were to look at it for even a few seconds. One of the engineers from the workshop explained how jobs like project management fit into the projects that they do there and how one mistake from a designer or anyone in the process, can delay the completion time of a project significantly.

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We then met a man called James at Walton house, and he showed us his current work using ultrasound to detect cracks and defects in materials and objects such as pipes. He explained how it all worked as well as taking us to see the lab used to simulate different environments and climates, to see the effect of this on substances and materials. We were told the lab was one of only a few in the UK.

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Next was a brief visit to the GEL building to see some of the many projects going on at the site, and tasks that had been done in the past. This was followed by going to buildings 210B and 210C to see more of the on-going projects. Woody told us all about the risks of certain machines and apparatus in all of the buildings on site, which meant we were required to wear general PPE and in some cases even a hard hat.

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We also visited the MCLR building, which was possibly the most interesting building on site. We were showed around by a man named Joe who told us about the experiments going on in the labs and the use of chromatography and analysis of water and soil to see the effects of radiation on the environment and to see if there were traces of radiation. Joe also showed us an electron microscope, capable of zooming in on substances to a particle sized degree, as well as his research on alpha, beta and gamma radiation, with one of the labs having a large lead container for the gamma source so that the lab workers are safe from the radiation.

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Our final part of the tour was with a man called Matt who took us to a pool of water to try out using an underwater ROV. He explained the uses of different types of ROV, ranging from use on land, to use in radioactive sludge. Matt explained the wide range of uses for ROVs including the movement of barrels when they're not safe for human intervention, and for surveillance in dangerous areas, etc. We got to use another ROV which was for land use as opposed to water, and we had to climb the ROV on top a box so that we understood the geometry that goes into ROV movement. Matt told us about his job, and how someone could go about becoming an ROV designer/technician as it seemed like a great job to get into.

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At the end of the day we then interviewed Richard Howells, one of the 2 directors we had come to Birchwood to see. He told us how he had got to the position he is currently in, along with his thoughts on our theme for the week; Leadership. Richard spoke about the need for respect treating others as equals in the workplace. He explained to us how he handles situations if they were to not go to plan. Richard also told us about his opinions on what are the wrong ways to lead, such as taking too much credit for work that was done as a team. He explained that he thinks the way he got to where he is now, was by encouraging and developing teams to the point where he is no longer needed to lead them, and so he is able to move up to a higher position.