Volunteering with YHA at Largest London Hostel

Due to our ongoing successful and award-winning volunteering with the YHA, we have now committed to our apprentices helping with M&E maintenance at a second hostel, YHA Thameside.

This is the YHA’s largest hostel in London and is around twice the size of the previous hostel, YHA Central. The 4th year apprentices have started at this site to get it to our standards, while the 2nd and 3rd year apprentices have taken on the weekly/monthly maintenance at the original hostel. 

The day of the week for both sites maintenance being carried out is different, so either team can support the other when needed. We received this request to work/train on the new site due to the success of the team’s ongoing work at the first hostel.

Both teams use their lone working and dynamic risk assessment apps religiously. At the end of each day a report is sent with completed paperwork to the Apprentice mentor. The site is initially set up with all KCE FM H&S paperwork/posters/folders in an internal base for the team to work from.

The work initially involves creating a site induction, identifying isolation points and creating EOP’s for site, followed by creating an accurate asset list, carrying out an asset dilapidation, looking through The Fire and Water Risk Assessments to identify defects, creating monthly/weekly maintenance lists such as TMV’s, showers, fire dampers, emergency lighting, F-Gas assets, labelling items such as emergency lighting, fire extinguishers, fire damper locations etc.

This forms part of the team’s apprentice training. And all work is monitored, checked and corrected where required by our Technical Manager/Apprentice Mentor.