Meet Mark (Ranger)

Our Rangers play a vital part in keeping your home safe and secure. We had a chat with Mark to find out more about his role.

Hi Mark, can you tell us what your role is and when you started working for Midland Heart?

Hi, I’m a Ranger and I started working here in April 2018 after a number of years working in mental health services. I wanted a change of career but I still wanted to be able to make a difference in the community.

How are you finding it?

I really enjoy the variety within the role, I have a lot of different responsibilities so every day is different. It can be hard work as it’s quite a physical job but all the lifting and walking helps me to keep fit. Overall, I find it really rewarding to do my bit and offer our customers a great service.

What kind of responsibilities do you have?

Each Ranger has an area that we look after called a patch, I’m responsible for looking after all the properties with communal areas in my patch. No matter how busy it gets we make sure every single block has a Fire Safety check carried out each and every month.

I’ll make sure that the fire doors and emergency lights are working as they should. I’ll also check that escape routes, communal areas and bin stores are clear and remove any fly-tipping and bulky items. All these things help to keep our customers safe as it means they can quickly and easily escape if there is a fire.

I fill out Snap surveys to rate the quality of the work carried out in our communal areas. This way we can make sure that our grounds maintenance and cleaning services meet the high standards that we expect. I also update the notice boards so that customers have access to the latest and most important information relating to their block.

Another important part of my role is reporting repairs, safety concerns, abandoned vehicles and any anti-social behaviour that I witness whilst I’m visiting the properties on my patch. If customers approach me to raise concerns, I’ll make sure that I take all the details and pass the information to the correct department so that they can be resolved as quickly as possible.

How does your role make a difference to our customers? 

As a team we help to make sure that our customers are safe and secure in their homes. We also educate customers about the importance of fire safety and the things that they can do to help keep their homes safe.

Sometimes residents think I’m being over the top when I ask them to remove smaller items like shoes from communal areas and I can feel like a bit of a bad guy putting a notice on a pushchair or child’s bike. These things may not seem like they’re much of a fire hazard but they can create a huge risk in the event of a fire. If the area was full of smoke, you wouldn’t be able to see them and you could easily trip over.

What else can customers do to help keep their homes safe?

Fire doors stop a fire from spreading and can give you more time to escape but they only work if they’re closed. I often find that residents have wedged them open which can put everyone in the block at risk. Every second matters when you’re escaping a fire, so it’s important that customers make sure that their communal fire doors are closed at all times.

What is the most rewarding part of your role?

I love that I’m able to build relationships with our customers. They’ll come and have a chat with me, give me updates about their area, point out issues they’ve noticed and give me feedback about their services.

I’ve got to know all the properties on my patch really well, so after reporting an issue or clearing something away it’s always really rewarding to see the positive impact I’ve made.

And what is the most challenging part?

Being a representative of Midland Heart is something I’m very proud of but sometimes customer’s take their frustrations out on me.

I’ll always do my best to resolve any concerns and pass them on to the correct department if it’s something that we can help with. However, there are times where I can only signpost them for example if they need to contact their local council for support.

Our rangers do everything they can to make sure your building is safe. You can find out what else we do, some examples of things you can do and report any building safety concerns here.

If you notice a problem in your communal areas you can Let us know here.