Sanni, our Multi-Skilled Heating Engineer, is passionate about the contribution he makes to our local communities and wanted to share a story of how he’s recently helped make a difference to lives of our residents.
My name is Sanni and I am a Multi-Skilled Heating Engineer working for Newport City Homes. I have been an operative for NCH since 2010 and I really enjoy my day to day contribution to my colleagues and the communities we serve.
I have had many occasions where I have helped and made a different to the lives of our residents and the latest occasion really struck me of just how much impact we can have in our day to day role.
I had just completed an appointment in a property and came out to my van and saw people in the street shouting, “Fire, fire, fire!”
I overheard someone say, “My boiler is on fire”, so I instinctively reacted and went towards the property to see if I could help.
Fire engines with sirens blaring arrived and the fire fighters went into the house. I was able to safely help them by isolating the gas and electrics whilst they focused on putting the fire out.
Once the fire was out and there was no risk of danger, I reassured the residents and spoke to my colleagues to report the fire and make sure we did all we could to help and support the resident whose boiler had caught on fire.
First I called my colleague Ben, a Compliance Officer, to explain what had happened. I then called my team leader, to brief her on the incident, explain how I had helped the Fire Service and told her what I had done to make sure I remained safe at all times.
Once the fire fighters were satisfied there no longer a fire risk, they handed over the property to me and I signed the relevant documents. Upon entering the property, I documented and took pictures of the scene and made notes on what could have caused the fire – although there will be a full investigation to confirm the likely cause of the fire.
I called Sarah again to ask her to send an electrician to isolate the electrics to the boiler circuit and to send an inspector to visit the property so we could see what we needed to do to address the fire damage.
While they were on their way, I capped the gas at the meter and labelled it accordingly, drained the boiler and heating systems to stop further leaks at the boiler which may have caused damage to the kitchen floor.
Martin, one of our inspectors, arrived and raised the jobs that needed to be done to make the home good again. This included B&H services who came to wash down any fire damaged walls and surfaces.
Daniel, one of our electricians, arrived to carry out the electric isolation to the boiler circuit.
Ben, one of our compliance officers, also arrived to do an investigation on why the fire happened and raised a job for a new boiler to be installed by one of our contractors the very next day.
Before I left the property, I made one last check to make sure everything was safe and talked to the resident about what would happen next. It really struck me how quickly we pull together and respond when residents need our help – their safety really is at the heart of everything we do.
The resident was overwhelmed with joy and could not speak highly enough about the excellent customer service we had provided her in her time of need. She was so impressed at everything we had done without her having to make one single phone call!
As I was leaving to carry on my day, she called me her hero! I don’t see myself as a hero as this really was a team effort.