Training and Development
Authorising Engineer (Water)
Karina Jones shares her career journey since leaving her homeland near Krakow in Poland as part of her life changing development.
Her life experience has shown her to have resilience and the capability to learn, adjust to situations and develop furthermore. These key elements allowed her to focus on her strengths and commitment in her current role as an Authorising Engineer (Water) to raising the standards of water quality in the Healthcare environment. To earn this respect, it was essential (in her professional view) to have a foundation on which to earn this coveted position and gain the respect of her peers by achieving the position of IHEEM registered Authorising Engineer (Water), presently working for Eta Projects ltd.
Maintaining professional career is an ongoing learning experience, Karina has worked her way up in water Hygiene Management through the vocational route of practical experience supported by professional and academic training, she also believes the best way to achieve your goals is to be open to every source of learning. This could be through conversation with people and colleagues who are more experienced and have inner knowledge that cannot be found through books, and this can only be obtained through open conversations and willingness to listen and learn.
Her ongoing strive to challenge herself and carry out further research into water management she has developed several CPD training modules which have been based on current guidance, standards, and regulations, taking into consideration many years of her experience in the field of water management. She said, by allowing yourself to share your knowledge you are also challenging yourself in ensuring your facts are correct and you are also able to provide resolutions to problems.
She has expressed her knowledge (and on occasions her concerns) through many articles, these were published in the IHEEM- HEJ publication, The London Chamber of Commerce monthly Journals and Water Management Society – “Waterline “publication.
Karina expresses, water management is a complex and big business, therefore it is important to maintain your professional knowledge which in my case include mechanical, electrical, technical understanding. One of the important development drivers is maintaining continuous, professional development (CPD). This will encourage you to reach out to wider areas where you can obtain knowledge from, this doesn’t necessarily have to be relevant to your specific career but may be of interest to you. All knowledge which has some relevance to what you do will provide you added information (information which you may think is not relevant today can often be essential in the future).
Mentoring is fundamental to Karinas ethos of sharing knowledge, she is currently mentoring two water engineers, as they develop towards formal Authorising Engineer accreditation with the Institute of Healthcare Estates Engineering Management (IHEEM) and their own development plans to achieve accredited status to engineering council competency standard.
She feels privileged to reach the position she currently enjoys because it enables her to support others to achieve their goals. Her moto is “Be open to information and be happy to share it”.