A Student Day in the Life of Chris Corker

A STUDENT DAY IN THE LIFE
February 09, 2009 by Chris Coker Environmental Health student at North Norfolk District Councill

Hi, I’m Chris Coker and I’m currently the Env Health student at North Norfolk District Council. Before I went to uni I gained A-Levels in Food Technology, Maths and ICT and A/S Levels in Psychology and Chemistry. I discovered Env Health thanks to my careers teacher who randomly found it in a big book of jobs, I thought the job sounded interesting so I did a bit of research into it and completed a week’s work experience at North Norfolk District Council whilst at college. During that week I spent time with officers from all the different sections of Env Health and they all took me out on inspections to really show me what the job involved. After the work experience week I knew that Env Health was what I wanted to do for a future career and here I am now, in my 3rd year at Nottingham Trent University studying Environmental Health. The 3rd year is allocated for completing a work placement year where I have to create and finish an Experiential Learning Portfolio (ELP), which shows my progression towards becoming qualified. Whilst I have been at NNDC I have worked with the Env Protection team which has given me experience in fly tipping cases, noise nuisance, odour nuisance, exhumation of dead bodies (you know its going to be a good day when you see a human skeleton at 5.30 am!), searching for and rectifying issues on contaminated land, dealing with travellers and gypsies, pest control and promotional work, I did a dog welfare, stray and fouling promotion which went awfully wrong when the wind changed and blew my gazebo over a sea wall!! Having spent 3 months with Env Protection I then spent 3 months with the Commercial team dealing with Food Safety and Health and Safety. I have been involved in inspecting small burger vans to multi-national companies such as Hains (formally Linda McCartney) to pubs and school canteens. Thankfully I’ve not had to get my hands dirty collecting faecal samples (well not yet anyway!) for the investigation of food outbreaks but I have been involved in trying to identify sources of food poisoning originating from incorrectly cooked meat to the handling of pet turtles. I’ve also been involved in undertaking health and safety inspections of boat yards and car parks and I’ve helped local schools and colleges by giving presentations about food hygiene and Env Health. I’ve also inspected private rented properties that were sub-standard for its tenants and I’ve done a fair bit of health promotion such as helping to arrange activities around No Smoking Day and getting the council workers fit by donning a John McEnroe outfit and showing people how to use a Nintendo Wii that has been made available for the employees to use at lunch times. What I have noticed is, that for me, each day is different because although you may deal with several cases of noise nuisance, each case has individual variations such as the source being an obnoxious business creating too much noise or simply an elderly person not realising their TV is too loud, which help to make no two jobs the same. The job we also do gives you a sense of accomplishment due to us helping keep people safe. I really love the job I do because you don’t have to spend 37 hours in an office; you are able to go out and about and meet the public. The job is also a good laugh. We work hard and because of the seriousness of what we’re dealing with everyday, we do have the occasional giggle! I know this is going to sound like a cheesy line from a TV show but I really am thankful that I’ve found a job that I really enjoy and want to go back to the next day.

Posted in A Student Day In The Life | February 09, 2009 by Chris Coker Environmental Health student at North Norfolk District Councill