multi skilled operative Review

I joined Tarmac as a Multi-Skilled Operative on 12th of August 2019 at Whitwell Quarry just off junction 30 of the M1. Quarry work is a huge change from what I did prior to joining Tarmac. In my old job I was a traffic management 12D supervisor, I was in charge of sites all over England in busy locations. The transition between jobs has been a challenge at times, however I feel I have learnt a huge amount over last year and PODP has definitely contributed to this massively and has increased not only my confidence but also my knowledge and skill set, which enables me to carry out my day to day tasks. My main reporting manager is Pete Bates & Patrick Shepherd. They both report to Dannika Bannon who is the Quarry Manager at Whitwell. On a daily basis I work as part of the Primary Team usually consisting of 4-5 colleagues. This is a crusher operator, an excavator driver, and 2/3 Dumper drivers, 2 of these roles are jobs I am trained to carry out. The Whitwell facility is mainly used for lime stone extraction but also has a small concrete plant in the quarry itself. Focusing mainly on lime stone extraction which is the only raw material used on our site, we make many products from this. The key product we make is large and small kiln feed which is used heavily by Whitwell works who then burn the material at extremely high temperatures and make essential products for both the steel and refractory industries. Part of this process involves crushing and screening. This is one of the daily jobs that I am trained to complete. We have a large crusher on site called the Primary which is a jaw crusher. This is fed large lumps of limestone rock by a 775-dumper truck which I am also trained to use. Once the material enters the jaw crusher it breaks the material into a finer product. This material then travels up the first primary conveyor to a selector screen which separates the fine material from the larger lumps. The fine products fall into a pile which is then transported to the wash plant. All larger pieces are taken via a second conveyor to the surge pile. This then moves onto the secondary fixed plant which I am not currently trained to operate. This process involves further crushing the raw material into specific sizes which are then sorted into silos and used by Lhoist (our onsite customer who operate the kilns). A typical day involves a Pre-start inspection/daily inspection this is dependent on whether I am operating a dumper of the fixed Primary plant. As long as there are no major defects I can then progress with my daily tasks. If I am operating the Primary Plant which I have detailed above how this works then I am tasked to control all aspects of the Primary Plant which are monitored with CCTV cameras to prevent any blockages, which would lead to down time and loss of production. Once production for the day is complete, I am responsible for the house keeping of the Primary Plant to ensure it runs efficiently and meets Health and Safety standards at all times. If I am operating a dumper, once I am happy that all inspections meet the criteria needed then I proceed with my day. I start by driving to the excavator who is working at the face and they load approximately 50 tons of raw materials into my skip. I then drive to the Primary intake where I tip the load and this then is crushed and screened as previously noted above. Both jobs involve communicating with other colleagues on site to ensure smooth running of all operations but most importantly the safety of all workers on site. The main method of communicating on our site is via a two-way radio. At Whitwell we face many challenges such as main gas line that run next to the quarry, a train line that runs under the quarry, main roads that run next to the quarry, a housing estate on the border where they undergo blasting and a world heritage site with active tours in caves(Creswell crags) as well as rising water and dust.

PODP has helped improve my knowledge of many areas of the business. These include: I now have a much better understanding of how the business operates outside of my Quarry, for example the types of customers we deal with, our competitors, the different types of plants we operate and the different products that we make. I have extended my knowledge of how both fixed and mobile plants run and studied the key areas of where potential problems could arise. I have learnt how to efficiently carry out pre-start and daily inspections which contribute to reducing any risk of issues and decrease the amount of unplanned down time. Health & Safety plays a major part in my day to day work and PODP has enabled me to expand on my knowledge of Health & Safety in the work place. I have learnt how to successfully complete a risk assessment, create a safe system of work and complete a stop assessment if necessary. I have been able to identify any near hits and how to spot potential hazards and how to complete any paper work involved in this process. I thoroughly enjoyed this module and feel it is definitely an area that I gained most knowledge from. Environmental sustainability is something that Tarmac is very passionate about. I have learnt about the many ways in which they contribute to helping the environment. Some examples of this are recycling, control waste disposals which contribute to reducing the level of pollution. Communication is a key importance to any task carried out within the business to ensure everyone is working towards the same outcome. It ensures everyone has a clear understanding of the tasks which are required to avoid any mistakes being made. I have gained knowledge on how to plan and construct presentations, and perform to large groups. This has helped to build on my confidence and shown that I am always willing to help others the best that I can.

As previously mentioned, I joined Tarmac as a multi-skilled operative which was a significant change in career from what I did prior to joining the business. So from the get go I was continuously learning new skills, and tasks and developing these daily. I was then offered the opportunity to join the PODP scheme, which I saw as a way to better my knowledge and understanding of the business, learn many new skills to expand on my current skill set and most of all has boosted my confidence which I have been able to apply in my day to day job. My main ambition is to progress within the business, which I feel the training and development that Tarmac have offered to me so far and hopefully will enable me to do in the near future will aid me in being able to do so. It will offer me opportunities to further my knowledge and improve myself further as an individual. I have learnt a lot about myself throughout this course and also how to deal with listening and working with others who may not share the same opinion, all of which I have been able to apply within my daily role.

PODP has huge benefits for Tarmac in more ways than one, it helps all their new and existing operatives get trained to a high standard and enforces the correct way of working increasing the knowledge and the importance of Health and Safety measures and promotes a more efficient effective work force. Having a more skilled work force will enable the business to run sites much more efficiently and this will contribute to increased productivity and will definitely contribute to increased levels of morale. 　 PODP within Tarmac is structured in a way where by it is heavily supported by government funding which makes the training cheaper for the business therefore being a lot more cost effective and enables the business to experience larger benefits which is key for a business of this scale.

on the PODP iv found iv had first class support from all my mangers from assistant to area manager and other team members to allow me to learn and knuckel down with coursework and on the job learning and if needed the extra support was available just a phone call away

Not only has PODP helped me to develop as an individual, it has shown me many benefits of being able to work well as part of a team and the importance of being able to communicate well with others. I am proud of not only the skills and knowledge that the PODP course has taught me but also how far I have come as individual. It has demonstrated to not just myself but to others that I am an extremely ambitious individual who is hungry to progress within the business and continue to improve on myself to be able to pursue a more challenging career in the foreseeable future.

I feel that PODP has benefited me by boosting my knowledge and understanding of both fixed and mobile plants which allows me to exceed in my day to day job. I have gained massive amounts of confidence from this course which I have been able to benefit from in everyday life, not just at work. By having to carry out coursework and meet deadlines this has enabled me to improve on my organisational and time-management skills which I can apply to any task. PODP has not only taught me a lot of transferable skills and allowed me to develop my knowledge to apply in the workplace but has expanded on my friendship group and has allowed me to communicate with many other employees both during workshops and with outside of the classroom. I am sure many of these relationships will be ongoing.

i don't feel tarmac dose a lot to offer social interaction with fellow colige such as building exercises they only do social evens such as Christmas parties we have recently started volunteering doing tree planting days in the Northam regen but when im not working i like to go walking

Yes

i fined tarmac open to people who want to push there own boundary's and personal achievements for the future of there careers and the learning and development potentials at tarmac are next level along with there high class facilities far from anything iv seen from other company's would highly recommend joining the firm

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