Some 864 men and women joined Transport for London Commissioner Sir Peter Hendy CBE in Whitehall on Tuesday 23 June to celebrate National Women in Engineering Day 2015, breaking the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title for the most people performing a jumping high five simultaneously. The existing GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title stood at 150 pairs and was beaten by achieving a massive 432 pairs, as adjudicated by an official judge from Guinness World Records.
The successful GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title attempt was held to celebrate the amazing achievements of female engineers, on a day dedicated to profiling the broad array of engineering and technology careers open to women. National Women in Engineering Day was created by the Women’s Engineering Society (WES) to focus attention on the great opportunities available to women at a time when it has never been more important to address the engineering skills shortage.
Stressing the importance of continued engagement with young people, whilst taking part in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title high five attempt, Julie Owen, Finance Director for Siemens’ transport-related businesses in the UK said:
“We’re a nation that is famous for its great engineers, those that have changed the direction of our country and our life as we know it. We want to shout about the great careers that we at Siemens, and many other companies, have available for the engineers of the future and particularly want to encourage girls and women to consider a science, technology or engineering path for themselves.”
Kerri Rogan, Head of Corporate Affairs at TfL, said:
“It was fantastic to see so many people from every corner of our industry take part in the GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS title attempt. Not only were people having fun, but it really put the spotlight on women in transport, engineering and technology roles.
“Traditionally, these roles have not been promoted to girls as a career option. As an industry, we know there is a way to go to bridge the gender gap. This is an exciting time for women to enter engineering, as we embark on delivering one of the largest programmes of transport capital investment in the world. Ultimately, this is about ensuring we have a diverse workforce and more women in engineering and technology to enable us to deliver the homes, jobs and growth needed to keep the UK working and growing.”
Janice Meade, HR Director from telent, added:
“National Women in Engineering Day is a fantastic opportunity to raise awareness of the huge variety of engineering and technology career opportunities available across many industries. Innovations in technology are changing traditional engineering roles and creating new careers. To meet the future demands, we need to dissolve some of the ‘mystery’ and make career possibilities more visible and compelling to young people, particularly girls and women.
“It is also our responsibility as employers to create a working environment that both supports and invests in the development of female engineers to enable them to fulfil their potential.”
Both of the main sponsors of the event, Siemens and telent, are committed to promoting engineering in the UK. Siemens currently employs 500 apprentices and trainees, with telent adding another 100.
Last year, Siemens launched The Curiosity Project – a three-year programme designed to engage with young people and broaden existing investment to bolster STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) subjects in the UK.
Maintaining existing growth is also key to telent, which has created an ET-accredited graduate programme in engineering. The programme builds upon telent’s long-standing apprentice programmes that have been running successfully for a number of years.
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Media contacts
For Siemens
Emma Whitaker
Tel: 07921 246942
Email: emma.whitaker@siemens.com
Silke Thomson-Pottebohm
Tel: 07808 822780
Email: silke.thomson-pottebohm@siemens.com
For telent
Cassie Farrar at Zoodikers Consulting Ltd.
Tel 01892 520123
Email: cassie@zoodikers.com
For Transport for London
TfL Press Office
Tel: 0845 604 4141
Email:pressoffice@tfl.gov.uk
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a global technology powerhouse that has stood for engineering excellence, innovation, quality, reliability and internationality for more than 165 years. The company is active in more than 200 countries, focusing on the areas of electrification, automation and digitalization. One of the world’s largest producers of energy-efficient, resource-saving technologies, Siemens is No. 1 in offshore wind turbine construction, a leading supplier of combined cycle turbines for power generation, a major provider of power transmission solutions and a pioneer in infrastructure solutions as well as automation, drive and software solutions for industry. The company is also a leading provider of medical imaging equipment – such as computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging systems – and a leader in laboratory diagnostics as well as clinical IT. In fiscal year 2014, which ended on September 30, 2014, Siemens generated revenue from continuing operations of €71.9 billion and net income of €5.5 billion. At the end of September 2014, the company had around 357,000 employees worldwide. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
About telent
With annual revenues of over £350 million, telent has decades of experience in supplying a broad range of network and communications services. Today, the privately-held company employs approximately 1,600 people and has an engineering field force that covers the entire UK.
The leading technology company’s operational breadth and scale makes telent a complete ICT infrastructure and service delivery partner of choice for organisations with mission critical communications networks — in every industry sector.
Customers include: BT, Virgin Media, Sky, Vodafone, Merseyside Fire & Rescue, Metropolitan Police, Highways Agency, Transport for London, Network Rail, Train Operators, London Ambulance Service, BAE Systems, EDF and Interoute.
Following the recent acquisition of Telindus in the UK, on 1st December 2014, telent now possesses Cisco Gold and Juniper Elite Partner accreditations.
Additional information can be found at www.telent.com
Twitter: @telent_UK
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/company/telent
YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCTlAQWx0suel4cdDwLqyN7g
Transport for London
2015 marks 100 years of women working in transport, with women taking on operational roles in the First World War and being involved in building landmarks such as Waterloo Bridge, dubbed the 'Ladies Bridge', which opened in December 1945. TfL is working with Crossrail, the Department for Transport, Network Rail, the Women’s Transportation Seminar and Women’s Engineering Society and others to celebrate the contribution that women have and continue to make to the transport industry.
Since 2008, TfL and its supply chain have created over 10,000 graduate and apprenticeship roles to ensure that it has sufficient and sustainable capability to meet demand for now and the future. So far this year, over 600 students from across the Capital have attended TfL and London Transport Museum’s Inspire Engineering Days which are aimed at encouraging young people to consider careers in engineering and transport planning.
