Last week, Jessa and Grace, both 17, joined us for a week of valuable work experience here at Global HSE Group. Work experience plays a vital role in helping young people bridge the gap between education and the world of work, giving them the opportunity to develop practical skills, build confidence, and gain a real understanding of professional environments.
We truly value supporting the next generation as they explore future career paths and love to welcome their fresh ideas and perspectives.
At the end of their week, Jessa and Grace took the time to reflect and share how they found the experience. Here is what they had to say:
We have really enjoyed our week of work experience at Global HSE Group and have learnt many valuable skills which we can implement going forwards. It has been insightful to experience a work environment for the first time and understand how the company works. We were involved across all departments including surveying, quantity surveying, contracts support, purchasing, estimating, fire engineering, door manufacturing, HR admin and marketing.
Whilst working with the quantity surveying team, we learned how they manage the financial and contractual aspects of projects while ensuring full compliance with legislation. This role is vital in making sure that the safety of people’s lives is always prioritised over cost when selecting materials and installing safety measures in buildings such as hotels, apartments, and student accommodation, especially after the Grenfell fire. As a result, it is essential that high quality, compliant materials are prioritised over aesthetics. We also learned the importance of ensuring that fire doors and surrounding walls have matching fire ratings, allowing fires to be contained through compartmentation. This passive fire protection strategy helps limit the spread of fire throughout a building, providing occupants with vital time to evacuate safely.
We had the opportunity to work alongside Jobie Holloway, Operations Manager of the fire engineering team, where they focus on reports and producing documents. We reviewed drawings and site photographs and identified key façade components by labelling the images. The reports included a risk assessment where they analyse potential fire hazard in buildings and play an important role in ensuring compliance with safety regulations. It was interesting to see how they prioritise the protection of people, property and environment from the effects of a fire.
Spending time in the warehouse, where all the fire doors are made, was a great addition to the week! We loved to see all the elements that go into making a fire door. We learned about the procedures used to ensure doors are safely manufactured and meet all required regulations. Every year the door must go through a security test where someone tries to break in for approximately 16 minutes. The other test consists of burning the door to ensure that it meets fire safety standards i.e. a FD30 should withstand the fire for 30 minutes, allowing people to evacuate.
Whilst involved with the estimating team, we calculated and compared the prices of doors. This allows the company to predict final costs using cost plus pricing to ensure they are making a profit and generate a continuous revenue stream. It is useful as it allows the company to negotiate reasonable prices with suppliers. Overall, this department gave me insight into the quantitative side of the company.
To conclude, the exposure we have had to a variety of departments has significantly deepened our understanding of how the company operates. This experience has provided valuable insight into the different roles and responsibilities within the organisation, as well as how each department works collaboratively to achieve shared goals. Throughout this process, we have developed and strengthened a range of important skills, including communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, all of which will be highly beneficial for our future academic and professional development.
