Apprentice Job Swap

Post by Apprentice CSA: Chris Toon

As part of National Apprenticeship Week, Dan Sims from our Corporate Communications team was good enough to let me shadow him for the day and fulfil part of his role to experience what it was like working within our media team.

Fortunately for me, they are a good team and every one of them was extremely helpful and  friendly when I arrived at GMFRS Headquarters in Swinton that morning. I very quickly got to see the room descend into mayhem when reports came in of a serious incident in Hyde. Every newspaper across Manchester was ringing the main desk to find out information so they could put out a story. There were times where members of the team had a phone in each hand to ensure they dealt with everything ASAP. Despite how busy it became, the team ensured that all information that was released was clear and factual so as not to spread rumours or panic.

I saw quickly how organisations such as the police communicated with the fire service to co-ordinate what information was being released. This allowed them to get a handle on the situation quickly to ensure a swift resolution. I could see this was something that has been tried and tested many times before and clearly, despite only having a small team in for that day, they took it in their stride and handled all eventualities that were thrown their way.

Whilst there, Dan took the time to explain each thing he did so I could take it all in. He let me help put together a small part of the new Media Liaison Officers handbook. We had to get names of contacts from not only every station within Manchester, but also the exact calling code for each engine or support unit dependant on what they were. I quite enjoyed doing this as I got a better understanding of how our units operate and how they communicate with each other during an incident. I also got to find out the role of a Media Liaison Officer and one of the reasons for their importance, to maintain the concentration of the operational crews wherever they are needed instead of being interrupted or distracted by members of the public or the media. I found the day extremely exciting, very educational and another opportunity to show the wide range of services the Fire Service are involved in and the great work they do across Manchester....

The Brathay Challenge has allowed us to explore even more areas of the organisation that we wouldn’t normally get to see. As our initial stage for Brathay has just drawn to a close, we will wait to see who the finalists are when they are released on the 17^th April. Regardless of the outcome, the apprentices wil continue the work we have been doing and we will be continuing to update our readers with our work throughout the rest of the apprenticeship.