A DAY IN THE LIFE: Craig Grassick Instructor at Survivex

I LOVE MY JOB! Knowing I’m contributing to the overall safety standards within the global oil & gas – the highest in the world - makes me feel proud and is a fantastic reason to get up in the morning.”

Aberdeen-born, Craig Grassick spent 17 years as a professional firefighter before becoming an instructor at Survivex, which is part of the 3T Energy Group - the UK’s largest energy sector training provider. He is now team leader for the company’s extensive portfolio of offshore survival and fire safety courses with responsibility for supervising all staff, equipment and the training experience for delegates in Aberdeen.

Craig said: “I usually arrive at work by 7am for a 7.45am start. My first task is to analyse the course bookings for the day and ensure everything is in place and ready for delegates arriving. Every day at Survivex we run at least four offshore survival courses, two BOSIET courses (basic offshore safety induction and emergency training) and two refresher courses or FOET (further offshore emergency training). This means we have to prepare dozens of survival jackets and associated training materials for delegates attending courses. The logistics of managing this can be challenging, especially on busy days, and I work closely with the maintenance team to get everything ready.

Once the equipment is organised, I meet with our team of instructors to go through the daily plan so everyone knows what they are doing and when. I’m responsible for planning staff resources and need to juggle things like work rotas, holidays and offsite training to ensure we have enough instructors to deliver all the courses running on any particular day. This can be the hardest part of the job.

Throughout the working day there’ll always be queries or issues regarding delegates to deal with. As well as coaching delegates, I often find myself counselling them! For example, survival training requires people to be submerged underwater in a mock helicopter and rotated 180 degrees. Understandably, people can get extremely nervous and anxious before being turned upside down underwater and I regularly have to speak with delegates to calm them down and reassure them. Alternatively, I might need to discuss next steps with a delegate who hasn’t met the relevant standard to see how we can help achieve their goals.

Whatever it takes, we do our utmost to ensure delegates pass their training with flying colours and get all the certificates they need to meet the needs of employers. At some point during the day, I’ll undertake routine equipment safety checks. Thousands of checks like these take place on a daily, weekly and monthly basis to ensure everything is in pristine working order. Our industry has the highest health and safety standards in the world so we need to make sure all of the equipment is the highest quality and anything worn or broken repaired or replaced immediately. Sometimes my day includes meetings about upcoming events such as the relaunching of our crisis management suite in May, where we run a number of OPITO-approved crisis management courses.

As part of the UK’s largest energy sector training group, Survivex operates a substantial, state-of-the-art centre with two survival pools, several tailored training areas and a Helideck training rig. As well as equipment checks, all of our buildings and plant need to be inspected regularly to ensure we are fully compliant and meet the very highest industry standards.

One of the most satisfying parts of my job is making sure the customer experience is exceptional. Working in a service industry means the customer is at the heart of everything we do and it’s great to be able to make a real difference to people’s lives.

We recently ran a very successful green hand programme to help new recruits get into the oil and gas industry for the first time. Even before the course had finished, people were getting calls with job offers for offshore work. Hearing about people securing work in their chosen field, which in some small part is thanks to your input, makes me feel very proud and is an extremely rewarding part of the job.

Instructors play a huge role in helping people achieve their career goals but it’s a job you need particular skills for. First and foremost an instructor needs to have the relevant knowledge and experience to provide guidance and support. At Survivex our strapline is ‘The real experts’ and we pride ourselves on the fact that all of our instructors have solid in-the-field experience to support delegates. You also need to have the confidence and self-belief to be able to stand up in front of a classroom of people so good communication skills are critical. We’re providing critical information, which could mean the difference between life or death, so you need to be able to keep people engaged and ensure memory retention. Being entertaining can play a big part in this so I would say a good sense of humour is also an essential characteristic for any instructor.

Humour certainly comes in handy. On one particular fire safety course I was instructing recently the training room was pitch black and filled with smoke to replicate a fire in an offshore environment. The delegates began frantically trying to fight the fire only to quickly realise they were directing their hoses at the orange glow of an outside street light showing through an open door. They were never going to extinguish this! Everyone laughed helping ease the pressure and tension of a demanding course.

After a full but satisfying day training delegates, organising staff and equipment and resolving queries, I’m ready to leave the centre by 4.30pm and head off home.

To find out more about the extensive range of energy sector training courses available at Survivex visit www.survivex.com or call 01224 794800.