• Question: How dangerous is your job, are there any risks?

    Asked by DrPuddings to Chris, Paul, Priyanka, Ryan, Sarah on 14 Mar 2016. This question was also asked by Morgan Tyrrell, Nemo.
    • Photo: Sarah Hargreaves

      Sarah Hargreaves answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      My job isn’t dangerous itself as I am mainly based in the office with some trips to the Naval dockyards, where you are issued with Personal, Protective Equipment (PPE) such as a hard hat and steel toe capped boots to lower the risk of you being hurt (mainly banging your head when inside the submarine as it’s pretty cramped!). However, the whole point of my job is to design the nuclear reactor so that that submariners can safely do their job without being harmed by it.

    • Photo: Christine Coonick

      Christine Coonick answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Good question. There are always risks working with electricity, but most of the time these can be mitigated by safe working practices. I have had to get over my fear of heights as I do spend time on some pretty high roofs – with some spectacular views.

    • Photo: Priyanka Dhopade

      Priyanka Dhopade answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Most of the time, my job isn’t dangerous at all since I make computer models of the hot air flow inside a jet engine – I’m at the computer where the biggest risk is bad posture and Carpal tunnel syndrome 😛
      Sometimes, I get to run experiments with air flows that can be high pressure (around 100 pounds per square inch) and high temperature (up to 100 degrees Celsius). This can be dangerous if I’m not careful but I normally wear steel-toed boots and safety googles and do my experiments very carefully 🙂
      I have also helped out with other experiments that are MUCH higher pressure and MUCH hotter – in this case, we have a separate “control room” with a very strong glass window that separates us from the experiment, since there is a risk of something blowing up (although this risk is small, we still take it seriously). Normally, when designing an experiment like this, we consult with expert safety officers in the lab whose main job is to guide us with safety protocols.

    • Photo: Paul Duff

      Paul Duff answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Hi,
      As I work on a tiered COMAH (Control of Major Accidents Hazards) site there is the potential to be exposed to some dangerous equipment and hazards but through training, procedures and safety systems the risk of harm is really quite low. Because our plant it is an identified COMAH site, we control the hazards very stringently. Our only injuries in recent years have been from Slips, trips and falls whilst walking around.

      Some of our hazards; We have rotating plant (pumps and motors, Gas and Steam Turbines, Fans etc.) and lots of pipework with what we call HHP Steam which is steam at around 510 Degrees Centigrade and 85 Bar pressure steam inside. That’s five times the temperature of the water boiling in your kettle and forty times the pressure of a car tyre! We also have High Voltages on site, up to 132 thousand volts (550 times more voltage than your TV at home).

      When we work on these systems we have a lot of safety documentation and controls. The first point of working safely is to remove the hazard. As a last resort we have Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) as Sarah pointed out, that is fire retardant overalls, hard hats, gloves, safety boots and many other things depending on the work.

      Due to all of the safety measures in place, my industry is actually safer than you might think. Feel free to have a look at the HSE website which shows that Farming, Forestry and Fishing have the highest injury rate. Here’s the link to the stats… http://www.hse.gov.uk/sTATIsTICs/industry/index.htm

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