Meet the team

Lia Kinchlea, Asbestos Administrator

Lia joined the Global Environmental Asbestos team in December 2014 and her role as Administrator provides the link between clients and our surveying teams.  She is based in the Sawbridgeworth office and runs the diary, compiles the reports as information comes in from surveyors and is responsible for processing data for upload into property management systems such as Keystone and MICAD.

Q: How do the surveying team fix their appointments?

A:  We have a team of ten surveyors, and they cover the Home Counties, London, the South East and the South of England.  As jobs come in to me from our clients, I allocate them to the appropriate surveyors as appointments for the following day.

Q: How are the reports compiled?

A: All our surveyors work with a tablet.  They are able to upload all the relevant information from the job such as the mandatory risk assessment, photos and survey data.  This arrives with me simultaneously and I am able to compile a draft report, a non-technical document prior to the bulk testing results being added later.  I like this stage as it gives me the opportunity to check that we have all the required information and that the photos are in the correct place.  A second check carried out by our technical assessors once the lab results have been incorporated.

Q: How easy is it to keep track of the surveyors?

A: I have a pretty good relationship with them so they all let me know if there is a problem getting to an appointment on time.  I also manage their time sheets so if they want their overtime added they need to keep me in the loop!

Q: What do you most enjoy about the job?

A: The satisfaction of making an efficient timetable of appointments for the team – especially when we are very busy. I like the logistics of working out which appointments suit which surveyor best both in terms of location and type of survey. I am also responsible for getting the invoices paid so I am involved in each job from start to finish.

Q: What do your friends think about your choice of career?

A: This is my first job since leaving school and typically my friends’ reaction to hearing what I do is to ask what exactly asbestos is.  It is extraordinary that a material as prevalent and as potentially dangerous as asbestos is not better understood. I am doing my best to educate them!