Stannah Lift Services celebrates the National Apprenticeship Week
Have you ever wondered what a day of a Lift Engineer looks like? In honour of 2021 National Apprenticeship Week, we decided to ask our trainee lift engineers to share their experiences and advice for those considering the role.
Between working, studying and taking notes, some of our 2019/2020 apprentices kindly took the time to answer some questions and shed some light on their roles.
The apprentices are located with our 11 service branches right across the UK – James R, Jay C, Ellis C, Jake L as apprentice engineers and Muhammad H a first-year trainee lift engineer. Whilst they spend some time training together, much of it is spent learning from live sites so they can encounter different scenarios.
What makes the job interesting?
The answer is “ the variety of visiting different places, different equipment and communicating with a range of individuals” amongst some of the things that keep the role interesting. With Jake sharing “that some lifts were powered by water in the past”.
Ellis added that “No two days are the same always, from minor repairs of a motor room light to full refurbishment, and from re-roping to panel wiring” there sure is something new and different to learn every day!
What made you join the lift industry?
Stannah has a long-standing history in the British lift industry, so we’ve encouraged and supported many young people to follow a career in engineering throughout our 150 years. Like many apprentices before them, a key trait is enjoying the practical and problem-solving aspect offered by an apprenticeship.
Take Muhammad for example, although he wasn’t looking at first to work in lift engineering, after consideration, he was sure that the role of a Lift Engineer strongly matched his interest.
“I was keen to work for a reputable company and when a vacancy came up with Stannah I was eager to apply. I’ve always enjoyed having a hands-on approach to work, and after completing 2 years of electrical engineering at college I was determined to carry on in that field.”
How do you learn the role?
Our lift apprentices, eager to learn more, are spending time shadowing fully trained lift engineers, visiting different places and experiencing first hand the variety of lift equipment in the field and methods to find and fix a fault. The training centre in Andover, equipped with all sorts of lifts, escalator and moving walkway gives them an opportunity to hone their skills.
Stannah has a fully LEIA recognised and highly commended in-house apprenticeship training scheme, with the teaching given by experts that have worked in the lift industry for decades – some of them even beginning their career as apprentices themselves!
Our Technical Training Manager, Tim C comments “Delivering training to our Lift Engineer Apprentices is a key function for the technical training team, being able to pass on the knowledge and experiences of the team to such enthusiastic individuals at the start of their careers is a really rewarding experience.
Using the fantastic facilities in the training centre gives an added dimension to training delivery and we all look forward to being able to return to this in the near future when safe to do so. However, I continue to be impressed with the enthusiasm of our Apprentices during our remote training sessions.”
All of our trainee lift engineers are working towards becoming fully qualified engineers and to complete Level 3 QCF NVQ Diploma in Engineering Maintenance and we wish them luck on their studies and their careers at Stannah.
If you want to join Stannah check our apprentice roles to find out more.