banff and buchan college

Shell Encourages Female Engineers

Female students studying engineering programmes at Banff and Buchan College met with one woman who has excelled in traditionally male dominated environment.

Mhairi McGairy is a Senior Safety Disipline Specialist with Shell UK Ltd. During Offshore Europe this September, Mhairi briefly met with some female students studying Banff and Buchan College’s ‘Girls in Energy’ course which is sponsored by Shell and Schlumberger. Mhairi visited Mintlaw, Turriff and Huntly Academy to speak to the girls on the course about women working in the Oil and Gas industry.

Mhari has worked in the industry all her working life and has toured round Schools on the Shell Education Bus. She spoke to the students about Engineering from a woman’s prospective, starting from her College days through to the position she now holds within Shell. The girls then had an opportunity to ask Mhairi questions on all aspects of Engineering.
 

The S3 Energy Girls of Mintlaw Academy got a special surprise when Mhari McGairy came to our school on the 8th of November to tell us about what it was like for a woman working in energy. Mhari McGairy has worked for shell for 25 years. She spent 16 years offshore, when she first went offshore she was one of two girls working on the site with 148 men also operating the rig, she told us working offshore is a great experience and the only downfall is you spend a lot of time away from your family. Once she found it was time to move on she decided to opt for a job involving health and safety. She is now head of health and safety at Aberdeen and enjoys it very much. Our visit from Mhari was very inspiring and really made us think about a job in the energy industry and what it would be like as a female engineer. 

By Arianne Elmslie and Louise McCouaig