Manufacturing profile: Oliver Hill

Oliver Hill joined our team as a manufacturing trainee in June 2018, bringing over 9 years’ experience to the company. Now, having recently celebrated his 4th anniversary with us, Oliver's working as a Secondary Steel Operative at our Basic Oxygen Steelmaking (BOS) Plant. Find out more about his experiences...

What was your first role with British Steel and your journey since?

I started my British Steel career working at the BOS Plant at the primary end (hot metal pour) where I trained to mix multiple torpedoes full of molten iron supplied from our blast furnaces into ladles to reach the specification required for the vessels where we make our steel.

Once I'd completed my training and was comfortable in that role, I then moved on and continued my training at the Desulphurisation Station. This is where we inject lime and magnesium into the liquid iron through a lance. This removes the sulphur (desulphurise) and brings the impurities to the surface. We then remove these impurities so the iron is prepared and ready to be poured into the vessel. After a short while at the Desulphurisation Station, I felt I was ready to step up and try something more challenging, so I moved over to Secondary Steelmaking, where I am at present.

In my current role, I refine the steel made in the vessels by heating the steel and adding various alloys (depending on the customer specification) to meet the tight requirements required by our customers.

Over recent months, I've been training to become a team leader with the hope of taking over from my current team leader who is retiring soon. This is a role I have been keen to do at British Steel and is a role I feel I'll be most comfortable in.

What does your day-to-day role involve?

I have a range of daily activities, including:

• Heating the steel to within +5°C of the temperature required by the casters
• Adding various alloy additions into the steel to meet the tight specifications required by our customers
• Ensuring we hit the time deadlines - this is critical to ensure a smooth and efficient flow of a ladle sequence to the casters
• Driving overhead cranes, forklifts and the wheeled loading shovel to maintain equipment, transport alloys and machinery as well as ensuring we operate with high housekeeping standards

My responsibilities as a team leader include:

• Ensuring all activities run as smoothly as possible
• Inspecting the different equipment and ensuring all pumps, valves, pipework and machinery are working efficiently; reporting any faults to the relevant people for it to be fixed/rectified in a timely fashion
• Filling out daily reports

What do you enjoy working with British Steel?

I enjoy working for British Steel as no 2 days are the same and I'm always facing new challenges.

What advice would you give to other people considering a career at British Steel?

Working at British Steel gives you a great opportunity to progress and learn new skills - it's provided stability for me and my family. It's very important to be safety conscious at all times as the working environment may be very different from what you're used to! 

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