Shani

5.30 AM 

With one sleepy eye open, I make my way over to the kitchen. With all the gusto I have at 5.30 am in the morning, I illuminate the kitchen with the light of the kettle – a beacon in the night, a sign of good things to come. I make two insurmountably sized mugs of tea, one for my best friend (and partner) to wake up to and one for myself. In more recent times, since moving site and no longer being the first person awake, I’ve made a rather special discovery – a steaming cup of tea already on the counter for me each morning. I curl up on the sofa in the darkness, and I sip till my heart is content.

6.30 AM 

By now I’m ready to go! Feeling fresh and clean and with my internal tea indicator pointing to 100%, I’m ready to drive to work. Driving is something special to me, so no matter how the drive, I always make the most of it. When I’m lucky, I have company on the journey, otherwise, it’s time to queue up the Vengaboys because ‘we’re going to Ibiza’.

7.20 AM 

Rolling into work, content after seeing the sunrise bordered by rolling fields and cows, I make sure I’ve got all my personal protective equipment on and then head to my office.

My walk to the office is through Alcoa’s Pinjarra Alumina Refinery, so while I’m making my way, I take in anything different I see around me. If there’s something I’m interested in or concerned about I will do my best to find someone who might be able to help me understand what is going on.

Once at my desk I set up for the day. I get out my laptop and whatever note pads or documents I need for the day (much like heading into a class at university). I have recently moved sites, so my routine is slightly different. In a nutshell, though, I will spend the morning checking emails that came through overnight, reviewing my to-do list from yesterday and reading up on the previous day’s production summary and looking at important trends for what I may be working on. For example, I might check the temperature of the bearings supporting the grinding mills. This allows me to assess the health of the equipment and to pre-emptively identify any actions to be taken to prevent a failure.

Intermittent with these checks, I attend morning meetings – some of these are with the operators who have looked after the plant overnight and with supervisors to discuss plans for the day. Once these meetings are complete, I get stuck into the day’s work.

9.00 AM 

Depending on the day’s priorities, I could be writing a job scope, doing an inspection, putting together operations and maintenance guides, preparing for a presentation, or even the following someone around to learn about the process and equipment. Work can take on so many forms from long term projects that may take years to resolve to unexpected shutdowns that require immediate attention. Being part of Alcoa’s Graduate Program also means some days are dedicated Graduate Days. These days are organised by the graduates for the graduates. We get together about once a month and do things like volunteering, site tours, business leader briefings, mental health workshops and much more! They also include a lot of additional training, we’ve undertaken courses through the Australian Institute of Management and completed first aid, defensive driving and slurry pumping training.

Today I began working on operations and maintenance guide for equipment used to filter process fluid. In some peculiar way, I sometimes feel like I’m a detective – a detective who investigates mechanical components. In a plant that’s decades old, there’s so much knowledge and change that takes place. Sometimes these changes get lost to history, so most often the initial stage of work is figuring out what we have. That’s where I am currently! And that’s why I’m putting together this guide – it will detail everything we know about these filters. My detective simile gets a bit more merit when you’re first on the scene inspecting failed componentry and then proceed to put together preliminary failure reports and conduct root cause analysis.

At some point in the day, I’ll go for a walk to check what I need for the day. If I’m writing a scope, I aim to go in the morning so I can begin preparing the scope of work for the repairs as other team members require this document in order to coordinate their work.

If I’m putting together operations and maintenance guides, I might go out to get a look at the equipment I’m writing about. I will take pictures to include in the guide as pictures hold so much information. I also take any necessary measurements and discuss things with control room attendants. Otherwise, if my supervisor or other team members are going to look at something new or interesting, I like to join them. I completed Alcoa’s Working at Heights and Confined Space Training, so I’m equipped to enter vessels and harness up for ‘at height’ work. I’ve had the opportunity to enter mud washers, grinding mills, super thickeners, feed chutes and electrostatic precipitators, to name a few.

12.00 PM or 2.00 PM

Sometime between 12 pm and 2 pm I will have my lunch break!

Depending on what restrictions are in place, the graduates and vacation students from across the site will meet for lunch. It is a nice opportunity to catch up with everyone and enjoy the café/canteen facilities.

2.30 PM 

Let’s say I’ve had my lunch at 2.00 pm, by 2.30 pm I’m ready to get back into it.

I tend to feel a bit more relaxed after lunch, so I reserve that time to do some of my lower energy work. Also, by having a late lunch usually means I’ve completed most of the critical work for the day so I can spend the last hour of my day tying up loose ends and getting a start on what tomorrow will look like (of course there will always be new obstacles that get thrown in the mix). I tick off any work I’ve completed on my to-do list and I pick off the things critical for tomorrow. This is cathartic and allows me to park my work at work.

3.30 PM

Time to head home! If there is something critical I’d like to complete, I will stay back to do so, but for the most part, I’ve usually used the last hour of my day well and am feeling clear, prepared for tomorrow and ready for home.

4.30 PM 

It takes me about an hour to get home. As my workday is so structured and organised, at home, there is no such thing as routine for me. My partner and I enjoy doing what we feel like in the spur of the moment. We might have had plans in the morning, but things never stay the same and I treasure that. After dinner, dessert and a few fun activities, it’s time to get tucked!