BLOG: Simone's Apprenticeship Story
As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2021, some of our apprentices are sharing their stories in their own words.
Hi, I'm Simone and I'm a Level 3 Safety, Health and Environment (SHE) technician apprentice at Sterling Pharma Solutions.
I started this apprenticeship after having a career change at the age of 24. It felt quite daunting for me to go back to studying as I had a misconception that an apprenticeship would be school-leavers only, however this isn’t necessarily the case.
As part of my apprenticeship I would normally attend Gateshead College for two days each month. I really enjoy these session as I get to interact with other apprentices and we can learn from each other’s workplace experiences. The college sessions are always informative and the tutors can tailor learning to any areas that you may feel you need extra information on.
Due to the current situation with COVID-19, I’ve been doing my college sessions online and the teachers have adapted their lessons for remote-learning meaning the live lesson element is kept short to help us to take in information better.
I’ve also been working from home one day a week – as our office staff are rotated to reduce the number of people in the building at any one time. This is something I’ve really enjoyed as I’ve never had the experience to work from home previously.
Following on from this apprenticeship I can work as a SHE technician or I can continue my studies further. I’ve already decided that I’d like to start a Level 6 course to gain further knowledge on the HSE function whilst working in practice; this will mean I’m qualified to the same level as a degree with honours.
I think my ambition in the future is to become a SHE trainer, however it’s still early days in my new career so I’d like to stay in a general health and safety role at the moment. That role includes:
- Keeping people safe in the workplace by providing SHE advice and guidance
- Carrying out near miss, incident and accident investigations
- Carrying out inspections, audits and risk assessments
- Compiling statistics and running reports
- Running training courses
- Working alongside other external companies.
