MEET THE MEMBER
ADRIAN SIMS FOH SPECIALIST MEMBER
Q WHAT LED YOU TO
PURSUE YOUR CURRENT PROFESSION?
A Fate. My father is an
engineer and I used to watch him do technical drawings at home. I thought that looks good so left school and trained to become a building services engineer. After several job moves I ended up working for a centrifugal fan manufacture who did installations of LEV systems. They made me redundant in 2001. I started Vent-Tech working closely with industry manufactures, supplying and installing LEV. It was only by chance that I came across a BOHS conference being held in Norwich back in 2005 (I think) talking about HSG258 which I attended and met Alvin Wooley and Andy Gillies. After talking to Andy, the long drive back led to a bit of ‘blue sky’ thinking about the direction both Vent-Tech and myself were moving in. It was after this that I met Bill Cassells and we did the very first P602 LEV Design course together.
Q WHY DID YOU
BECOME A MEMBER OF BOHS?
A Following the conference
in Norwich, it seemed the right thing to do. BOHS is an organization that is striving to make a difference to people’s wellbeing. As an LEV engineer I have the same goals.
Q WHAT ASPECT OF
YOUR BOHS MEMBERSHIP DO YOU VALUE THE MOST?
A The networking with likeminded people.
Q HOW HAVE THE BOHS QUALIFICATIONS HELPED YOU IN YOUR CAREER?
They have helped me gain a basic understanding of the principles of LEV and occupational hygiene. Together with my building services engineering degree they help me fully understand how LEV works and more importantly is used.
Q
HOW HAVE THE BOHS CONFERENCES BEEN VALUABLE TO YOU THROUGH YOUR CAREER?
A As above, they are a
great place to network and share knowledge.
Q
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT OUR PUBLICATIONS (ANNALS OF WORK EXPOSURE AND HEALTH, EXPOSURE, FAAM NEWS, E-BULLETINS, WEBSITE NEWS)?
A They help me keep up
to date with the latest thinking in the industry. Not all of it is relevant to what I do but it is a great resource.
Q
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE ROLE BOHS IS PLAYING IN PROMOTING WORKER HEALTH PROTECTION?
A Education and
awareness (if these are not the same thing). The biggest challenge we face is educating people as to the how and who should use them? The BOHS has the ability to position the right people in front of the right audiences to make this happen.
Q
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO YOUR YOUNGER SELF, OR THOSE ENTERING THE PROFESSION?
However, this comes with a health warning. There is also a lot of poor information out there.
Q
AWAY FROM YOUR PROFESSIONAL LIFE, WHAT HOBBIES AND INTERESTS DO YOU HAVE?
A I have always done a lot of sport including canoeing, climbing and in later years I started playing rugby.
I try and keep fit and play 5 aside twice a week but I have reached a physical peak now where this is rapidly becoming walking football! Many of the people I play with would describe it more as just walking.
A Read more. There is a
wealth of information out there available at our fingertips. When I was younger the internet was not what it is today so we were limited to the books in the local library however now there are articles, blogs, webinars, videos etc. and all sorts of good information available online.
WANT TO BE OUR NEXT EXPOSURE STAR? Contact us at exposure@bohs.org to find out how! 6
BOHS.ORG
