Meet Carolina Olmos-Callaway, Technical Officer at Warringtonfire

Carolina Olmos-Callaway has worked as a technical officer at Warringtonfire for 18 months. Based at the laboratory in High Wycombe, UK, she is originally from Mexico and studied Environmental Systems Engineering at the Instituto Politécnico Nacional. She held positions as a research laboratory technician and environmental health and safety officer before moving to the UK, where she previously worked in health and safety for a property management company.

It was in her last position with the property company that Carolina was introduced to passive fire protection and maintenance. She found the standards and procedures fascinating and was interested to learn more about the field of fire protection, so when a position with Warringtonfire came up, she jumped at the opportunity.

Carolina’s day to day role as a technical officer involves managing fire testing projects for building products including walls, floors and doors. She liaises directly with clients to assess their testing requirements and prepare cost estimates, and she also undertakes the testing herself, operating a furnace under controlled conditions to assess a product’s performance against British and European standards. She then prepares technical drawings and final reports with the test outcomes.

In addition to her main role, Carolina has also been instrumental in updating administrative procedures to ensure ongoing improvements to efficiency, and she uses her health and safety expertise to ensure excellent safety practices by colleagues and visitors during testing.

Speaking about her job at Warringtonfire, Carolina said: “Warringtonfire recognizes hard work and it’s a very supportive environment, with a lot of collaborative working. When I joined, I was assigned a colleague who would offer support so that I could learn from them quickly and progress to conducting tests on my own, which takes approximately six months. There is also a lot of opportunity for skills development with masterclasses and lunch and learn sessions.

“We have a very structured system for progression as a technical officer, with a defined career path and clear goals to work towards. I will soon be moving up to the second tier in my role, which comes with additional responsibilities and new opportunities to develop.

“I enjoy that there are so many directions I can take within Warringtonfire and as a global company, there are also opportunities to move around. But most of all, I love performing tests – the moment a product is set on fire is still so exciting. And delivering a positive result to a customer and the satisfaction of a job well done is always a highlight.”

For more information on a career with Warringtonfire click here