A Day in the Life of an Escalator Engineer

Pickerings Lifts engineers are amongst the most experienced and professional engineers in the UK.

They’re directly employed, so you are guaranteed to receive the best uniform level of service, no matter where your business is located.

Our engineers will take an allocated space of time – usually at least an hour – to fully inspect, test, service, lubricate, and if needed, make any adjustments.

We caught up with Geraint our Senior Escalator Engineer when he was last in our Escalator office, in Stockton-on-Tees.

Editor:  “When did you join Pickerings Lifts Geraint, and where are you based?”

A: “I’ve just joined Pickerings Lifts this year (2021)… in April. I’m based in South Wales but the job can take me all over the UK.  Pickerings Lifts operates nationwide from its regional offices.”

Editor:  “What does your job cover?  What do you do?  Can you give our readers some idea, please?”

A: “Well… the clue’s in the title I guess [smiling] I service escalators, and that covers call-outs by customers for escalator breakdown and repair.

Diagnostics can take place over the phone or on site.  We also provide technical support.  I’m fully trained to quote for any repairs or maintenance, but I’m also part of the out-of-hours rota as well, so although it predominantly a day-time job, there’s an element of handling emergency repairs too.”

Editor:  “What do you like about your job?”

A: “Oh that’s easy.  The variation.  There are no two days the same.  I’d hate to have to come into work and do the same job day after day.  Trust me, that’s never going to happen in my line of work!”

Editor:  “What training have you had either from Pickerings Lifts or for your job role?”

A: [Screws up face] “Ah, well, that’s a bit difficult for me to say, being new here.  I’ve had the usual induction, but need to have a chat with my manager about ongoing training.  I know Pickerings will support me, but it’s early days.”

Editor:  “What days or shifts do you work?”

A: “I’m on five days, plus on a call-out rota.  Usually 10-12 hours daily.”

Editor:  “How does your usual working day start?  What work tasks usually await you?”

A: “I usually find out from the out-of-hours engineer if there are any call-outs in my area.  Then I plan my service work around the call-outs, and try to cover a whole area if there is a lot travel involved.”

Editor:  “What do you like best and worst about your job?”

A: “It’s the mixture between office and site work, but I don’t like being on standby on weekends.  I guess that’s what everyone dislikes, but it’s just part of the reason customers employ Pickerings Lifts.  We’re there for them when they need us, when others might not be.”

Editor:  “What types of questions do you get? How do you handle them?”

A [Laughter again] “The most common question I seem to get is ‘How long are you going to be’.  I wish it were an easy answer.  Sometimes it is, but not always.  We work on some complex machinery and faults are not necessarily what’s causing the breakdown… the fault might be the result of a deeper maintenance issue, that’s consistently causing the fault, if you get me?

Also, I often ask the customer ‘which unit would you like me to start’ on to cause minimal disruption, because I try to work with the customer and build up a rapport.”

Editor:  “What do you look forward to about your job?”

A: “I really enjoy fault finding.  Most engineers are the same.  We enjoy finding faults and fixing them.”

Editor:  “When working on site, how do you keep yourself safe? How do you keep the customer or other people safe?

A: “We always use barriers and PPE at all times!”

Editor:  “Last question… and I’m guessing I already know the answer… what do you look forward to when you’re approaching home time?”

A: [Smiling] “Spending time with my family and just relaxing!”

Click on the link below to find out more about the planned Escalator, servicing and repair options offered by Pickerings Lifts:

Escalators

Contact us on 0800 085 3211 or email contact@pickeringslifts.co.uk to find out more about the services we provide