anchor1A day in the life of...

Environmental Services Technical Officer

Anchor12All in a day’s work for a dog warden - West Dorset District Council

When Sue Gibson goes into work each morning, she is never quite sure what to expect.

Sue is West Dorset District Council’s dog warden and with her colleague Stephanie Miller covers a patch of 450 square miles.

Sue could be reuniting owners with their dogs or talking to someone who has been bitten by one. She could be picking up a stray or giving someone a warning about their dog’s behaviour. She has a number of powers and duties under the Environment Protection Act 1990.

This morning, she is checking out an area in Dorchester, where dogs have been persistently fouling the pavement. Then she’ll go on to Sherborne to speak to a woman who has been attacked by a neighbour’s dog. On then to Trent to deliver signs for the playing fields and back to Dorchester where a stray dog has been picked up by the police and needs to be taken to the kennels near Bridport. If the dog is not claimed by its owners, it will be eventually re-homed.

Destroying dogs and taking people to court is the very last resort in a long process where talking to people – both complainants and dog owners – is one of the most important aspects of the job.

Sue says: “We have a big patch to cover and quite a heavy and varied workload so we can’t be everywhere all the time. So the public are our eyes and ears. We want them to report things to us. Only then can we try to sort out the problem. It’s nice to be able to get out and meet people. We give talks to organisations and groups and give them advice.”

Dogs’ faeces can contain the toxocara worm, which is dangerous to children and elderly people. A person in charge of a dog who does not clean up after it could be fined up to £1,000 under the Clean Neighbourhoods and Environment Act 2005. This also applies to the owners of strays.

Anchor4Gina Carson - Environmental Services Technical Officer - Christchurch Borough Council

In a small council like Christchurch, Environmental Services Officers have to wear a number of hats, which makes my job very varied.

My main role is Health & Safety enforcement which is about preventing accidents on commercial premises. I carry out health and safety inspections but also have to deal with accident investigations in the workplace to find out how the accident happened and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

Aside from that, I am responsible for monitoring roadside pollution and also water sampling, during the summer months, of the rivers and the sea to make sure the water quality is the correct standard.

I liaise with a number of organisations, such as local water companies and the Environment Agency, to ensure that we are all aware of the work being carried out by each of us and to share best practice.

I keep in touch with the Public Health Laboratories if there is a case of food poisoning or infectious diseases and, if there is a food poisoning outbreak, then I will be called in to help with the investigation and offer advice.

I work closely with other local authorities in Dorset on a programme of food sampling and obtain food samples from local shops, pubs and restaurants to send off to be tested for microbiological quality. I then receive the results and feed them back and deal with anything untoward that has been found.

I am responsible for monitoring our contracts with pest control services and the dog warden and also come up with campaigns like a recent one which aimed to make the public aware of the health dangers of leaving food for ducks on pathways which could attract rats and pigeons.

anchor8Raeph Cumming works - Planning Policy Officer - Christchurch Borough Council

The best thing about my job is how enormously varied it is. There is only a small team in the Planning Policy Department at Christchurch which means that we are not restricted to working in a narrow specialism and get a chance to work on a whole range of issues.

In order to come up with a strategic overview of what the borough will be like in the future, we must consider a wide range of factors, from transport and the environment to where people will live and work. We consider the major planning issues and take them to the community, giving them realistic options for them to consider and asking how we might best plan for the next 20 years.

Once we have received the feedback from our residents, businesses and other stakeholders, then we formulate those responses into a plan.

A fair amount of my work is done in the office, including desktop research, producing electronic maps and writing and reading policy documents. The rest of my time is spent on site visits, looking at potential areas for development, or holding consultation events and workshops out in the community.

We do a lot of joint working with other councils in Dorset, for instance carrying out a joint housing study to look at appropriate sites for future housing. I also have a lot of contact with other departments in the council as much of our work can influence their own service plans.

We are currently going through a great deal of change and there is a lot of pressure to collect evidence to inform our work. But that’s what makes the job interesting and so enjoyable.

anchor10Vanessa Ricketts - Democratic Services Officer - Christchurch Borough Council

I work in a very small team in the Chief Executive’s Department dealing with member and committee services for the Council.

There are three parts to my job: administering the Community Services Committee, the Scrutiny Committee and organising the development and training for our elected members.

For the committee work, I liaise closely with the chairmen, portfolio holders and lead officers – for these committees the lead officers are the Director of Community Services and the Chief Executive – to prepare agendas and reports. I arrange pre-meetings to decide on future agendas and take minutes for each meeting.

For the Scrutiny Committee I also get involved in writing reports and helping to formulate a work plan in collaboration with the chairman. Each committee has Task & Finish Groups to look at short-term projects or issues which need fairly quick solutions and I arrange meetings for these and also have input into them, as well as taking minutes.

I have recently undertaken a training needs analysis of all members to see how they would like their training and development to progress and have arranged a ten-seminar induction programme for new councillors. We are currently working with other Dorset councils to arrange seminars for all of our councillors, and this has given me the opportunity to work with my counterparts in other authorities.

My other responsibility is to collate a newsletter which goes out every week to our members to keep them informed of news and issues from all parts of the Council.

Anchor11Rachel Luff, Business Improvement Training Officer, Adult & Community Services, Dorset County Council

The best thing about my job is the variety of people I meet and the appreciation I get for the service I deliver.

Whilst I do deliver core system training in a classroom environment most of the training delivery is done out in the workplace. I get to know lots of people joining the Directorate as I am responsible for training new starters in the use of core computer systems and associated procedures and forms. In addition, I maintain contact with existing staff as they often require refresher training or training on new procedures.

I am responsible for designing all classroom and one to one training plans. It has been our goal over recent years to make them as innovative as possible. This has resulted in courses being more effective and enjoyable to deliver.

Another part of my role is to provide professional advice and support to our customers on core system related queries. This is achieved by being situated out on site and getting to know our customers and the jobs they undertake. Therefore, a lot of my time can be taken up problem solving and drawing up new procedures and guidance material.

I manage my own diary and a typical week can consist of a variety of training, on site support, attending meetings as an expert user or attending meetings which I have co-ordinated to agree new procedures or brainstorm queries.

In summary this is a very varied role which is valued by its customers which ensures great job satisfaction.