Spotlight on CEng: Andy Fuller
In this series of case studies, we’ve been catching up with some of our members, finding out about their careers to date, how IGEM has supported them so far, and their thoughts on the future of gas. In this instalment, we’re speaking to IGEM Chartered Engineer member Andy Fuller, Principal Consultant at Holistic Integrity Consulting and Pipeline Integrity Engineers Ltd (PIE). This is his story so far.
“Do you ever sit back and think ‘I have a plan’ or read a book from some high flying gazillionaire and think ‘I have an idea’? Nope, me neither,” he says, “when I was at school, I had an idea – and it wasn’t in further education. I was planning on going in the Royal Navy – I’d passed the entrance tests up to that point, my GCSEs were targeted at getting in – I passed, much to everyone’s surprise – and I got to the final medical to be told I had a bad knee, which was a shock and surprise to me
“Six months later, I started an apprenticeship as a heating and ventilation fitter for a company that’s now non-existent (not my fault!) but, with a great pedigree and reputation. I worked across the North East, mainly on hospitals and university building projects, learning my trade at Newcastle College. I was a ‘pipe strangler’, or pipe fitter in trade terms, and learnt how pipes react with force and heat and how they corrode and fail over time. I realised none of this at the time - I was just making pipes fit, then I realised much later in my career that experiential learning counts for a great deal!”
“I moved into what was Transco in my mid-twenties which, while pipes undoubtably play a role, is a different world, with history and procedure not seen outside the gas industry – the pressure boundaries on working practices baffled me. I had been installing high pressure air and fuel lines at Gatwick airport the month before I joined the gas world and went from testing lines at 150bar+ to being told I couldn’t work on pressures greater than 32mbar, and nothing bigger than 1”/28mm diameter! But I had shiny new tools, so much PPE and a van (also a pension!),” he says.
Andy spent a number of years in a van for Transco, National Grid Transco, United Utilities, Northern Gas Networks and moved from only being allowed to work on low pressure domestic to regaining his non-domestic roles, during which he’d learned additional skills – including being part of the NVQ assessment team and the odd stand in as holiday cover for his manager.
“I got a little bored and convinced the senior management that I could do some learning at Northumbria University, and so started five years of day release whilst maintaining my 38 hour commitment, so I worked every other weekend for that time, but I gained a degree at age 32. I’d changed roles from a man in a van to a man at a desk at 31, after one of the worst interviews I thought I’d ever given. After researching the role and speaking to potential colleagues, I was up to speed on PSSR, PSR and COMAH regulations, one of the first questions was ‘can you explain cathodic protection?’, I answered with the worst possible interview answer: ‘no, but I know how it works on ships, is that the same thing?’,” he says.
“I worked with one of the best managers and a great team for four years, and worked on projects you wouldn’t associate with the industry unless you’re in it: I received briefings from security services and had to brief my then-CEO in person of threats and issues; I had calls from senior government officials to ask for details on incidents, only because we had met at a conference and he thought I might help; I developed process safety indicators from scratch and defended them against HSE challenge and review; I helped to teach primary school kids how to recognise the smell of gas and what to do when they did smell it; I had to explain to an arena concert venue about emergency planning for gas incidents and how we would evacuate them – yes, even when Take That were playing. It was an awesome job, and I’m deeply and forever grateful to Barry Dalus, Martin Alderson and Chris Gorman for the help, support, and mentorship over that time.”
Andy moved and dabbled in the offshore market with a move to Aberdeen – “it must be my interview technique as, again, when they challenged that the upstream industry was different to the downstream sector, I asked if the pipes were a different shape and ‘was keeping the stuff in them not as important as in the upstream sector?’. I got the role and again enjoyed the culture shock of an industry that you would assume was similar. Working to maintain the infrastructure that fed into a pipeline supplying 30% of UK gas demand was pressured but great fun.
“I moved back to the North East and into a consultancy company and, at this time, I’d been called an Engineer, Pipeline Engineer, Senior Engineer and Senior Integrity Engineer but, in my mind, I was still a fitter and was going to get caught out some time soon. I had clients across the world and looked at integrity systems in copper mines, in UKCS for gas and oil as well as refineries and offshore gas storage. Again, I had a manager who was instrumental in my growth and development – he was so open in passing on knowledge experience and background which contextualised so much on the industry. A hat tip to Dennis Keen – an ex HSE inspector, part of the PSR regulations development team and friend,” he says – adding – “oh, and I got bored again and decided that an MBA was a good idea, so it was back to Northumbria Uni for two years.”
Another change came in August 2017, when Andy left employment to go it alone, still thinking he’d be caught out and told to get back on the tools. “I was asked if I’d like to work alongside one of the finest and most respected engineers I knew, Dr Jane Haswell. How could I work alongside her? That’s who people went to with real pipeline integrity issues! Yet, I’m now working alongside Jane and the other excellent engineers at PIE. Whilst still getting used to being self-employed, I, again, had the bright idea to go to university so I’m now mid-course covering emergency management in high hazard industry – not the first thing you’d think of in the gas world, but we do have some serious infrastructure and are legally obliged to interact with other sectors.”
Andy had joined IGEM back in his Transco days on the van, when the training programme was accepted as aligning with the requirements of EngTech – “I started to attend events and develop an understanding of the widder impacts of IGEM. I maintained the membership, even when I was outside the gas industry. It’s where the good guidance documents were developed so it made sense to keep in there. I got more involved when I came back to the North East and took a place on the committee, taking the role as North East & Yorkshire Section Chair in 2021 as we exited the tightest of the Covid restrictions. Along with the committee, we moved from the purely virtual world of meetings to re-introducing in-person events which culminated in the return of the charity ball, which I hold as the pinnacle of my role as Chair. We got together and raised a great sum of cash for the Stroke Association, which is something dear to me personally and to the rest of the Section. Being Chair is not like any employed role I’ve ever taken; you’re doing it for fun (honestly) and working with professionals across a range of employers and roles, all trying to achieve something that feels right and useful to everyone and only understand the end result or impacts when someone later tells you it was enjoyable. Before I left the role, I gained recognition as a Chartered Engineer, which should hopefully put the imposter syndrome to bed, at last, so a busy year.
“I think we all know that the industry has suffered from a recruitment drought over the years, and the age profile is on the wrong side of the curve, there are efforts to recruit and engage new entrants to the game. I think we do undersell what we do – I’ve not taken a linear route to where I am now, I even wrote my MBA dissertation on it! That it is a point where we as an industry can show a strength, we encompass so much to keep the gas in the pipes and get it to where it needs to be. I can’t think of an engineering discipline that we don’t use to make sure we are as safe and secure as we are. We need engineers to be nimble and adaptive to develop and innovate to not only keep doing what we do well, but to bring forward systems to prove we’re fit for the future and our place in achieving net zero – who doesn’t want to be part of that?!
“IGEM is supporting that transition., but still has a wealth of history and experience to offer. The work done in the transition to natural gas in the 1970s is one of the largest mobilisations of manpower and activity outside of a war effort. As we consider the introduction of hydrogen to our current systems, lessons from then will be relevant now.
“The future of gas must be intrinsic on any transition. We simply cannot turn it off – that is not an option. The industry has kept the gas flowing for years and will continue to power the country in various means and mixtures for years to come. The industry is not dying – it’s been given a refresh and new challenges, which can only be achieved by the people who work with passion in it,” he concludes.