Gary started employment at the age of sixteen as a Fitter & Turner in January 1981. His first year was spent in a training workshop with two hundred and twenty (220) other apprentices learning the skills required to work competently and safely. His second and third year was spent at the Works Soaking Pits and the Stainless Steel Building located within the Slab Yard Department, working on stainless steel slab grinding machines.

In the final year of his apprenticeship (1984), he became a member of the Slab Yard Overhead Crane Maintenance Team. 1984 also happened to be the first big down turn in the steel industry, which resulted in the creation of the ‘Voluntary Retirement Scheme’, which was formed to reduce employment numbers. More than 99% of the two hundred and twenty employees were retrenched, leaving only twenty (20) apprentices with fulltime employment; Gary was employed as a tradesman.

He spent the next ten (10) years of employment working on a small work crew on the Slab Yard Overhead Cranes.
He was then transferred from the Slab Yard Crane crew to work at a world first strip casting process (Project M) located within the Steelworks. This is where he left his trade to become an Operator and started working twelve-hour shifts. These ten (10) years were the most enjoyable time of his employment so far.

The Strip Casting Plant (Project M) was later sold and moved to the United States, he was asked to move to the USA however his wife at the time was not keen to relocate the family so the decision was made to stay.  He was ultimately transferred to the Iron Making Department, firstly on the FOS (Furnace Operator Support) team. It was there he was introduced to the iron making process for the first time in his career.

After a six-week period of learning the procedures on the Furnace, an unfortunate accident to another employee opened a full time position on Crew A at Number 6 blast furnace. The Number 6 Blast Furnace was closed in 2009, and he was relocated to the newly relined Number 5 Blast Furnace where he currently works.
Note: The slag at Number 6 Blast Furnace was directed to slag pots where it was then taken granulated or poured into pits to be removed for rock slag when it cooled. The slag at the Number 5 Blast Furnace either runs into the granulator or to the open slag pits for rock slag.

The main operational roles of the blast furnace operator are:
•    Tapping the furnace for liquids - this is done with tapping drill approximately 4 meters’ long - various drill tip sizes are available depending on the drainage required at the time.
•    Controlling metal flow - the iron and slag run into an open trough where the iron and slag separate and are directed into two separate runners, the iron runs into a tilting spout where it can be directed into one of two directions filling torpedo ladles to be taken away to the steel makers.
•    Taking metal and slag samples - each ladle is tested to assist the process controllers with the chemistry of the liquids in the furnace, metal temperature is also required for each ladle averaging 1515 degrees Celsius.
•    Plugging the furnace - this is done with a hydraulic mud gun that pushes clay into the previously drill tap hole.