Blog: A day in the life of a HSB Engineer Surveyor - Ireland

Darren Morris

"A typical day starts early for me and involves coffee! If it’s a run day, it starts even earlier so that I can head out the door, exercise for 45 minutes, and get back home again for a cold shower and 10 pages of reading (currently Breathe by Rickson Gracie; MMA & BJJ pioneer and legend) before the house gets hectic when my two sons wake up! Get them showered, the usual breakfast routine and then ship them off to school so my own work day can start.

Before I leave the house, I sync my work iPad and check through my emails. Then it’s off to my customers’ sites to carry out thorough examinations.

Over my seven years at HSB, I’ve examined various types of plant and equipment. On a typical day, there can be a mix of passenger/goods lifts, forklift trucks, local exhaust ventilation and dust extraction systems, and commercial hot water heating boilers.

There are some customer sites where I examine equipment that is not so typical, like one of Europe’s largest passenger/goods lift, which can lift a massive 25 tonnes between floors and is large enough to reverse a lorry loaded with a fully-stocked 40ft shipping container into.

There are many interesting projects and aspects to my role. I enjoy learning about new systems and equipment, and implementing new procedures.

There can also be some challenges. These can include ensuring customers understand the risks associated with any lack of equipment maintenance, why supplementary tests support thorough examinations (by establishing if equipment is safe for continued use), and how important it is to recognise that the services we provide are required under applicable legislation.

That said, I always look forward to interacting with our customers; providing good customer service, building relationships and acting as a technical resource whilst providing a statutory compliance service to them and, ultimately, keeping them and their customers safe. It’s what I enjoy most about my job…oh, and driving the company car, I really, really like!"