My name is Brittany Ryan and I’m currently studying a Bachelor of Commerce majoring in Business Law. I began work on the Solar Decathlon Middle East 2018 back at the beginning of my degree in 2016 and 3 years down the track it is amazing how far we have come.

When I first joined the team, I was a few weeks into my undergraduate degree and knew very few people outside of my classes. This project has broadened my social network and hopefully will assist me in gaining a job upon graduating because I will have a unique set of skills that my peers may not.

When we began we didn’t even have a name for the new house, let alone the foundations of it! Within the team my role is Quality, Safety & Environment Manager. This role requires me to develop and manage the safety framework for Team UOW Australia-Dubai. I have worked to ensure our system meets the safety standards both in Australia and Dubai. Lately I have been finalising WHS policies and procedures for our construction work.

I have learnt a lot in this role that I would not have ordinarily learnt in my degree. Being one of the very few students who has no engineering or construction background means I have a different outlook on our development of the Desert Rose House. This has given me a unique perspective  while developing our Safe Work Method Statements (SWMS) which outline the risks, hazards and safety measures associated with our construction work.

I assessed our work site before construction began and since then I have been consistently ensuring that we safely operate in all our activities. The beginning of construction was a stressful time for me personally as I had the responsibility of inducting all our decathletes onto site, whilst completing exams and working at my casual job. Although I didn’t think I would be able to get it all done, with the support of my team mates, I successfully inducted over 100 decathletes, finished all of my exams and maintained my work hours.

Team UOW Australia-Dubai has gotten me through my degree this far and I can’t wait to see the finished house!