What first degree did you take? 

When I finished my A Levels, I did a BSc Hons in Environmental Science with Rural Environmental Protection.  

What was the first job you got when you finished your full-time education? 

I saw an advert in the local paper for an asbestos surveyor; when I applied I was asked if I would prefer a position working in occupational hygiene. When they explained the difference, I gladly jumped at the hygiene opportunity! I had never heard of occupational hygiene before, and thought it sounded an extremely varied and exciting opportunity.  

When and why did you join BOHS? 

I joined BOHS back in 2009 to learn more about the subject and to keep in touch with what was going in the hygiene world.   

Describe a typical day in your work. 

There is no typical day! I look after small team of occupational hygienists and a team of ventilation technicians from our office in Stafford.  Our ventilation technicians are involved in testing critical ventilation systems in hospitals, which includes testing areas such as the operating theatres, mortuaries and endoscopy departments.    

I am mainly office based now and can be doing anything: from arranging site work, overseeing contract work, doing quotes and tenders, auditing, answering client enquiries, report checking, quality assurance and site meetings. I really enjoy doing site work and still get involved in traditional occupational hygiene surveys as well as doing some ventilation site work.   

How did you get your current job? 

I remember being called up one day out of the blue inviting me for an interview with IOM to join the team at Stafford.  I jumped at the opportunity, and here I am, 13 years later.   

I started off with IOM as an occupational hygienist with a handful of BOHS modules, and worked my way through to achieving my Diploma in 2011 with the help and encouragement from my peers and manager.  As the work has grown, we have also expanded into critical ventilation testing, and I ended up doing a mixture of both.  Quite often there is an overlap between the two streams of work, as there a lot of substances used in hospitals, such anaesthetic gases, formaldehyde and disinfectant chemicals, and there are quite a number of LEV systems to be tested too. 

What do you enjoy doing when you are not working? 

My partner and I are currently renovating our property, which we really enjoy – most of the time! It takes up most weekends at the moment, but when we get any spare time we love going course fishing, clay pigeon shooting and walking with our dog. 

Where did you last go on holiday? 

We went to a small town called Monts, in the Loire Valley, Central France. It was a great place to explore the region and châteaux.  Our base was an old converted water mill situated on the river Indre, so we had many long hours of relatively successful fishing time.    

Favourite pet? 

I am definitely a dog person and have a black Labrador called Holly.   

Favourite film? 

I never watch the same film twice as there are so many to choose from but some of my favourites have been Les Misérables, The Green Mile, Deerhunter and quite recently Three Billboards outside Ebbing Missouri. 

What was the last music album your bought? 

Olafur Arnolds, Remember.  

Favourite book?  

Anything by Kent Haruf, but I recently really enjoyed Stoner by John Williams.