Our GHM Project engineers are immensely talented and experienced, whether it’s installing our products onsite in care homes across the UK or providing support over the phone to our customers.
Because the nature of their work is so varied, and often behind the scenes, we thought we would give you a glimpse into what a typical day out installing looks like for a GHM Care engineer.
What happens on a typical install day?
Our Project Engineers start the day early, as they prefer to arrive ahead of schedule to ensure there are no hidden surprises (such as finding out extra-long cables are required, or fellow contractors in a new build not being quite ready for us).
The team get ready in their necessary PPE including rubber boots and helmets – these produce some excellent helmet hair at the end of the day.
Installing on new sites (without staff and residents) has a unique buzz with the various trades working alongside each other. Nothing beats the various workers flexing their vocal talents as they sing along to the radio (the rest of the GHM Care team get to sample this at various socials).
When installing WiFi APs (Access Points – devices that create a wireless local area network) the engineers can spend hours staring up at the ceiling and it takes some time afterwards to adjust back to normal head alignment.
What’s a common challenge on new installs?
Often cables for Wi-Fi Access Points are run in the ceiling and installing these comes before plastering. If plastered over, the team liaises with the site managers for a resolution. Firstly, they need to ascertain the best location and be super precise with any cutting. Sometimes they’ll be working with access no larger than a mouse’s head! It takes torches, hooking devices, engineer ingenuity and some heavy breathing to rescue the cables.
A heart in the mouth call that no engineer wants
Engineer Pete tells us they once had a very scary call after one particular complex install. “We had tested everything fully but we got a surprise call from a testing officer saying nothing was working once we left. Luckily it turned out to be a random, local power cut and the home was reconnected nice and quickly but our hearts really went into our mouths on the way home!”
Healthy cabling competition
Our engineers are always learning from each other and one particular standard they like to excel in is how immaculate they can make their cabling in Communication Cabinets. There’s some healthy competition to see who can make it look as easy on the eye, as well as easy to use for the end customer.
The Best and Worst Parts
The word parts? Probably the driving and the helmet hair!
The best part is when everything comes together during testing, even if they are talking to themselves on the test calls!