Xmo people
Name:
Paul Slater
Job title:
Sign installation and maintenance engineer (Team Leader)
A day in the life of me:
My day generally begins quite early. We start work on site at 8am, so dependent on where my first job is means that I often leave home at around 6am.
Before starting at Xmo Strata:
When I left school I worked for a plant hire company as a panel beater and sprayer and moved onto working as a fabricator/welder. These practical skills and a positive attitude to problem solving really helped me to make a career change to sign installation and maintenance engineer.
The thing I most enjoy about my job:
I work on a variety of projects with a great team. I particularly enjoy sign maintenance projects as I get great satisfaction from going to a site where the customer is in trouble and leaving the site fully functional. I enjoy the problem solving aspect of my work and generally return home at the end of the day with a sense of achievement.
The thing I dislike most about my job:
Being on call at night and weekends can be a real pain at times, but I understand that to be a market leader, the company needs to offer this service to its customers; it isn’t so bad if everyone does the jobs that arise in their area!
Training courses completed while at Xmo Strata:
I didn’t have all of the required qualifications when I started at Xmo Strata so I was sent on training courses as soon as I started. Since starting here in 2005, I have attended the following:-
Safety Passport (UK PIA) refresher
First Aid and Fire Fighting
PASMA (Qualification to erect mobile scaffold towers)
IPAF Scissor Lift and Self Propelled boom and van mounted cherry picker accreditation
CSCS
IPAF Harness Training
Asbestos awareness
Manual Handling
IIF (Incident & Injury Free) safety behavioural training
Why I wanted to work for Xmo Strata:
To be honest, the last sign company that I worked for went bust and I just sort of fell into the job. Xmo Strata was expanding and looking for experienced sign installation and maintenance engineers; I had the relevant experience and was looking for a job.
Now, I can’t believe my luck. I worked previously for several sign companies who all talked about health and safety, but Xmo Strata actually delivers. I enjoy being part of a company that takes its work, and the safety of its colleagues, seriously.
What makes Xmo Strata different to the rest:
I feel confident that with Xmo Strata I will never be expected to work outside my capabilities or put myself in danger to get a job done. I trust in the company, so much so that I introduced my son to it and he is now training to be an Xmo Strata engineer too.