Robert Gough

Said the following about Izzabella Emmins:

“I am recommending that Izabella Emmins be considered for Apprentice of the Year.

I believe Izzy is worthy of winning this award for a variety of reasons.

I do not think the complexity and enormous culture shock in starting work within a security rail environment, largely linked to CCTV work, can be underestimated by those judging this award.

Izzy joined a team that is highly proactive and that constantly goes way beyond the norm in terms of delivery. She had to learn highly complex processes in a short space of time, to enable both herself and the team to remain capable of managing the ever-increasing workload in the build-up the introduction of the COS. Unfortunately we were not able to give her the time to bring her up to speed slowly. It was a baptism of fire. One which she was made well-aware of before joining the team and one in which she rose to the occasion.

Izzy has taken on the full responsibility for managing internal and external station and train requests. Izzy has had to quickly learn many new CCTV systems, including several temporary systems, as a result of ongoing project works. This has been a present technical challenge throughout her apprenticeship. On the surface CCTV can seem quite simple, although just within MTR, throughout the stations and trains, we have 9 different video software’s. Izzy has had to learn these, as well as the vast array of support programmes, whilst also learning our special railway and security language (including the acronyms!) as she has expanded in her role.

Izzy has managed the CCTV database, maintaining spreadsheets, managing storage, in accordance with Data Protection requirements, completing forms, meeting with engineers on west and east route to collect, share images, internally and externally. She has had to master the BTP DEMS (Data Export Management System) to feed images to investigating officers. Since the opening of the COS, she has become responsible for managing the station CCTV and DOO requests on a separate system, actively downloading (requiring attendance at stations) and enabling the sharing of images internally and externally.

She has also collaborated with stakeholders directly to implement new procedures in order to simplify processes and speed up processing times for both parties. These have often come with their own technical challenges, although Izzy has remained confident and worked swiftly to implement these changes.

Izzy has taken on the responsibility for keeping track of iSafety reports, chasing relevant managers, if CCTV requests are not made for notable incidents (slips, trips, falls), to ensure we hold sufficient evidence for future claims etc.

Izzy also obtains stills of suspects for evidence portfolios, which has enhanced both our internal and external investigations. She also arranges viewings/sharing footage with internal/external partners, to aid with staff or accident investigations.

What I like about Izzy is the fact that she will ask questions and she will challenge. Including myself, when chasing up information regarding one of the trackers. It is incredibly positive that she has the confidence to do this. No more so than her highlighting and challenging Alstom engineers regarding issues we have had with 345 stock. This includes upload failures, missing footage, wrong formats and truth be told, an apparent lack of concern shown by one of our stakeholders, regarding following due process. Izzy has consistently risen to the challenge to ensure our stakeholders requiring CCTV, specifically the British Transport Police has not been impacted by this.

Izzy has proven herself capable of joining meetings with stakeholders to discuss and resolve issues.

To show how far Izzy has come, she is now taking on elements of Matt Hurst’s CCTV operations role, including training colleagues on using Playback Systems. Izzy is the main point of contact when Matt is on leave, providing a very pro-active and professional response to stakeholders, on behalf of the team.

As stated, Izzy has become a fully integrated and valued member of the team. She interacts well with other colleagues. It is clear to all she has a positive outlook and is an asset to the security team and to MTR.

In addition Izzy has taken on responsibilities supporting myself, as the Head of Security. This includes managing trackers, chasing for information, updating the tracker, taking accurate notes for meetings and sharing them with internal and external colleagues. I also appreciate the very efficient manner, in which she completes administrative tasks, such as the team meeting minutes, which arrive with us expeditiously.

I admire that fact that Izzy is ambitious and wants to do well. It is great hearing of her plans to travel and gain key life experiences that will provide her with enormous amounts of knowledge that can only help enhance her contribution to our richly diverse workplace. Her uplifting and quirky nature has helped her develop strong and lasting relationships with her colleagues. Her presence at the office and in the stations brings a touch of warmth to the entire organisation.

Izzy has taken on and overcome the daunting task of managing CCTV data requests, in all its complexity. I believe, she is thriving in the environment and long may this continue. I believe she would be a worthy winner of this award.“