A HEREFORD electrical technician has encouraged more women to take up engineering roles and claims the whole industry would benefit if more women were involved.

Kelly Box, from Hereford, spoke out as part of National Women in Engineering Day which took place last month.

Based in the city, Mrs Box is a technician with Western Power Distribution, working for the underground and plant team which looks after all of the underground network and switchgear across the county.

Originally from Merthyr Tydfil, Mrs Box started with the company 15 years ago as a part-time clerical assistant to help fund a nursing degree but says she’s never looked back.

The 32-year-old said: “After the first twelve months at the company, I was approached to join a new department to take on some electrical work.

"I then chose to go to college to study for a City & Guilds qualification in electrical engineering. The course was industry-specific and gave you a real understanding and appreciation of the electricity network.”

Her current role as a technician, which she has done for the past four and a half years at WPD, involved helping to look after the maintenance programme.

She also manages new connections and attends faults – authorised at high voltage level to carry out switching on the network.

She admitted that joining a male-dominated workplace was initially daunting but says she has had nothing but encouragement and support from colleagues.

She said “I’m the only female engineer in the Hereford team and I felt a slight pressure to succeed, and prove to myself that I was capable of doing the job.

“It is a demanding industry which enables you to carry out a variety of tasks, and challenges you mentally.

"There is always an opportunity to learn. One day you may be sat in the office planning a job, and the next you could be out on a planned interruption or a fault."

She has encouraged more women to become engineers and feels it would benefit the industry as a whole if more women got involved. “There aren’t enough women taking on engineering posts but there is no reason why they shouldn’t," she said.

"There is so much to see, do and learn. By having a mixture of male and female engineers within the industry, it will hopefully bring a balanced perspective and bring different ideas and opinions to the table."