Chief Engineer is awarded the – NEBOSH Student of the Year 2014 Award

Ros Stacey UK Sales Director for CRS  presented  Jonathan Lewis  from the Home Office - Border Force Maritime and Aviation Operations  with the their NEBOSH Student of the Year Award 2014 at a special event on Friday 13^th June at Sahara Force India – Silverstone the home of Formula One racing.
Jonathan who is a Fleet Superintendent - Engineering, with the Home Office Border Force Maritime and Aviation Operations said “I became a Customs Officer in 1985, joining their fleet of patrol boats called Cutters as an Engineer. I was promoted to Chief Engineer some 20 years ago, and have been lucky enough to have one of the best jobs in the world –the excitement and satisfaction of intercepting and arresting drug smugglers is unbelievable.
Two years ago, I picked up a shore based opportunity as the Fleet superintendent –Engineering and took on the responsibility as Lead auditor of our Safety management system.
I am currently re-writing the Branch risk assessment, which is a huge project as the roles range from routine Galley work to assessing how we keep our Officers safe when dealing with criminals determined to bypass our maritime border controls.
The NEBOSH qualification has given added authority to my submissions, as well as credibility when investigating incidents and the subsequent reports or statements. It gave me the confidence to challenge a very expensive but totally inaccurate report by a “Sound Analyst” which resulted in a rewrite and reduced its negative impact.
CRS are the chosen Home Office Supplier, and I received excellent support from Ros’s team when trying to organise close to my home in York.
My principle trainer was Chris Dougherty, who was first class; he led a very mixed group through   H and S management and report writing to ensure that we stood the best chance of success. I admit the homework was more than a bit of a bind, and the sheer volume of work was surprising.
The examinations seem a lifetime ago, but I do recall how sore my fingers were as each answer book was completed. I was determined not to need the “guaranteed pass” facility and be successful first time. It had taken my two predecessors at least two attempts.
The results came through in April, and I was relieved that I could start to use plain English again and NEBOSHisms could fade in to the past”