A day with Michaël Smeers
A day with Michaël Smeers
Michaël Smeers, consultant at INEOS Aromatics Belgium tells us how a workday looks like:
5.30 AM: I get up, take a shower, have 2 espresso´s and take my dog for a walk.
6.50 AM: I arrive at the office in Geel, I consult my inbox and plan for the day.
7.45 AM: I give the E&I contractors an overview and inform them about the tasks that have to be executed for today.
8.00 AM: I take my bike and ride to the OSBL unit where they produce steam, instrument air,… but also where our storage tanks for fluids are located, where they handle the water treatment,…
8.00 – 11:30 AM: A new steam boiler has to be built. I am in charge of the installation of all the electrical and instrumentation materials needed for the safe operation of the boiler. This has to be done keeping in mind that the installation has to be built following the INEOS specifications, but also conform to Belgian electrical standards (AREI).
Also, I have to check if what the engineers have designed, can be implemented and executed in practice.
12.00 PM: I feel hungry, already 6.30 hours awake! I drive back to the office and have lunch behind my desk while I write and answer emails.
12:40 PM: My colleague has an urgent question. Do his workers have to use a ladder, scaffold or scaffolding to carry out a task at a considerable height? We have a chat over the phone looking into the safety regulations.
2:30 PM: I take my bike and go to the site supervisor of the E&I contractor to help him make quotations for new projects.
3:30 PM: Time to go home. Despite a chaotic day I managed to finish my work on time and in a safe way for me and my colleagues. Unfortunately, I can’t stop every day at the same hour. Sometimes overtime is required, but I don’t consider this a problem because I love my job. It’s a healthy mix between supervision in the field and administration.
4:00 PM: I arrive at home and my dog Billie is already waiting for me.
5:45 PM: My girlfriend comes home from work and starts cooking.
6:30 PM: Dinner is served! We start eating and talk about how our day went.
