Charlotte S

0.00.00 My name’s Charlotte S. I’m a Pollution, Prevention and Control Officer and I work for the Environment Agency. Well I suppose you could say I’m a policeman for the environment really. I look after the chemical industry, that’s my area of specialism and I make sure that they comply with environmental law. Generally try to minimise the impact the industry has on the environment.

0.00.30 I was a fairly good all rounder at school. I found science subjects more interesting and so after doing my O Levels I went on to do A levels in maths, physics and chemistry. I wasn’t really sure about what it was I actually wanted to do with that. Seeing as my father had also worked in engineering, although he was in the aeronautical industry, he’d said to me what about engineering and so I decided to give it a go.

0.01.00 So I applied for courses in chemical engineering and I went to Bradford University. My parents certainly never pressurised me and I think if anything they were a bit the other way, that they felt that really the thing to do was to, you know, get a job and earn some money and it was me saying well actually I’d quite like to try university. Neither of my parents have been to university so I suppose for them it wasn’t the, sort of the natural path.

0.01.30 There was one particular lecturer, Professor Geldarts, and he was a great inspiration to me because I’d struggled with my A levels the first, I did my A levels twice because the first time I did them I had a really bad attack of exam nerves and crashed out quite badly. And obviously at university, coming into university I was quite nervous that you know I was going to have the same problem again and he was a really big help to me in that respect and you know saying to me well, you know, you know that you can do it and I’ve seen that you can do it and

0.02.00 I think you’ll be a good, you know, you can be a good engineer. I mean I graduated in 1993. Then there was certainly some prejudice against female engineers. It taught me not to be too sensitive. But that’s helped me in my later career in what I do now that it helps me to get my point across because I’m not afraid to be criticised or to stand up for my position.

0.02.30 I was made redundant in 2001. Unfortunately the site that I was working at closed. Unfortunately at that time I was expecting my first child and obviously the opportunities for employment are somewhat limited when you’re pregnant. The Environment Agency interested me because they were a very good employer in terms of, you know, their family friendly policies and I just felt that it was an exciting opportunity and you know the right time in my life.

0.03.00 So I decided I was going to go and be an inspector. I like sport. I like horse riding and racquet sports. I run. I enjoy doing things with my children. We try to get them, you know, to enjoy walking, taking them on little walks and teaching them about wildlife and birds and trees and things.

0.03.30 I see myself trying to influence the Agency, the Environment Agency internally in how they deal with industry and trying to influence industry in how they deal with the environment. So in a more influencing role I feel that that’s really where my strengths are and that’s what I’d like to do and I think that that would, you know, by doing that I can bring some real value to society.

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