Ruth Foster is a Process Safety Specialist in our Health, Safety & Environment (HS&E) department. She started out on her career with us as an apprentice in 2013, find out more about her experiences...
Please provide a brief overview of your first role with British Steel and the journey you’ve taken to your current role
I started with British Steel in Scunthorpe as a Technical Apprentice in 2013 and upon completion of my apprenticeship, I became the HS&E Analyst. Following that I changed HSE disciplines and moved into Process Safety, first as an engineer and now as a specialist.
How long have you been with the business?
Nearly 9 years.
What does your day-to-day role involve?
My main responsibilities include:
providing process safety support to the business and also assisting plant areas to ensure that the site is compliant within the COMAH regulations
facilitating and delivering various process safety studies across the Scunthorpe site in conjunction with plant personnel and the central Process Safety team, ensuring all process safety hazards are identified and managed accordingly
assisting in the delivery of process safety training to newcomers to the company, including apprentices and manufacturing trainees
analysing various site-wide and plant specific statistics to allow the business to act on any ‘weak signals’ and issues that may pose problems if left unchecked
Why do you enjoy working for British Steel?
Working for British Steel provides me with a wide range of experiences and every day is different from the last. The colleagues I regularly work alongside also have a passion for the steelmaking process, which allows me to continue to learn from them.
The team morale within the business also pushes me to continue to advance my learnings and qualifications, which is well supported and a real bonus.
What advice would you give to other people considering a career at British Steel?
Even if you feel like working on the Steelworks would be daunting and scary, it’s really not! Everyone is supportive and you’ll have a job you love with people you respect before you know it.