Ever wondered what would have happened if you would have continued your chemistry education beyond the school laboratory and the Mentos/Coca-Cola experiment? Or go to law school in the likes of Tony Blair and Kim Kardashian?
Well, you can thank your lucky stars as our own Sarah Davy has done both – and agreed to unveil what it's like working as a Regulatory Chemist at Cleenol.
Q: Hi Sarah! Can you tell me about the core responsibilities and objectives of your current role?
Sarah Davy: Within regulatory chemistry I do lots of different jobs such as create and maintain product Safety Data Sheets (SDS), help notify products to the relevant regulatory bodies as well as amend and approve new product labels.
Q: What would you do during a typical day?
SD: A typical day involves carrying out lots of regulatory compliance work. This can include updating various product documentation and researching any new chemical regulations which affect the cleaning and hygiene product industry. For example, with the finalisation of Brexit at the beginning of this year, there are lots of new rules to keep up with.
My team develops new formulations in the Cleenol laboratory, performing tests to measure quality and performance before the findings are reported to the rest of the company. Once suitable products are found the process is scaled up to production next door.
A typical day may also include liaising with customers in order to determine what they require from a product, and also with suppliers to determine what ingredients they can offer which may be suitable for a given project.
Q: How did you get into this industry?
SD: Following university and a postgraduate course in IP law, I started out as a production/developmental chemist. During this I picked up some of the regulatory aspects such as creating SDS, which led to my job here at Cleenol.
Q: What was your first impression of Cleenol?
SD: I've been at Cleenol for 7 months now. It was an interesting start going immediately into a lockdown after my first day, but, it has been interesting to see the company grow as the lockdown restrictions have slowly lifted.
Q: What do you enjoy most about your job?
SD: I enjoy the challenges the job provides as most projects require a problem-solving approach. I also enjoy working with a wide variety of people, from my colleagues in the lab and those working in production through to working with customers and suppliers.
I like that at Cleenol we are always looking for that next opportunity, whether it be simply gaining new customers or creating bespoke products for particular customers.
Q: Do you have any interests outside of work that you would like to share with our readers?
SD: I enjoy photography, whether it be taking photos of landscapes or going to track days and getting action shots of bike racing. Occasionally I will use these to sketch from, in either pencil or ink.
