I think workmen are going to be in trouble !!! (cont)

[Neil]

ooh their back this morn............3 people to stand around, one big fat one leaning against a wall , one walking around on his phone, one in a nice clean jacket (official) leaning on wall, and then 2 guys in a hole doing the work.


Now i see how it works, instead of having people trained to dig and repair, they have trained ' diggers' and trained 'fixers'.

So the 'hole people' did the hole then come back to fill it in, while the fixers just fix things.....it's like 'fraggle rock'

The one in the clean coat took a picture of the pipe that came out.

So to recap, instead of 2 people digging a hole and putting signs out 1 1/2 hours and 15minutes to replace the section of pipe.

It's taken 6 people on the first day plus a hidden inspector (7)
And 5 people on the second day.

That's a lot of wages for a 2 man job that could have been done on the day :shock: :shock:

I take it it's a privatised water company?

If so, there busts the myth that the public sector is all wasteful, officious and jobsworth, and the private sector all slick and cost-effective.

But at least they're probably not doing it on tax payers money - oh no. They're probably just doing it on the water rates that people pay, that they can't realistically opt out of, and I very much suspect there's no real competition from other private sector companies for the service.

I forget - are water companies allowed to take a big slice off the top as profit, if they've done a good job?

 

[rosstheboss]

This is quality...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... k-all.html

It does my head in when this sort of thing happens - a private company basically coining it - I see it with landscapers on roundabouts round here. I think the method goes something like this

1. We need to be seen to be doing something so throw 6 lads on a small roundabout to mow and replant the beds.

2. Charge at least 1/2 day for each person so three man days at probably something like £120 each to the council.

3. Pay each bloke something like £60 per day

4. KERCHING!!!

I could sort the roundabout on my own in little more than a morning!

Drives me mad!!

 

[David B]

this is why

You left off the BBC undercover filming crew from Watchdog or some other Mail reader-placating drivel.*

David

*Warning. May contain traces of Anne Robinson and/or Dom Littlewood.

 

[Neil]

This is quality...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... k-all.html

It does my head in when this sort of thing happens - a private company basically coining it - I see it with landscapers on roundabouts round here. I think the method goes something like this

1. We need to be seen to be doing something so throw 6 lads on a small roundabout to mow and replant the beds.

2. Charge at least 1/2 day for each person so three man days at probably something like £120 each to the council.

3. Pay each bloke something like £60 per day

4. KERCHING!!!

I could sort the roundabout on my own in little more than a morning!

Drives me mad!!

And all of that is the antidote to the "wasteful public sector", with the slick, effecient, cost-effective private sector. And in many cases, whatever it is (like water supply) doesn't even truly benefit from the market economy - just has probably as much waste as before, but somebody taking a slice off the top in profit, and suprise, suprise, no benefits to the customer but rising costs.

There may well be scenarios where privatisatin is the panacea, but in many instances, the public were sold a woodern nickel.

 

[David B]

The picture above is inaccurate I'm afraid. Only one clipboard wielding health and safety monkey. Are you mad? Who is going to watch his back?

These people work in fours and WILL be the first against the wall come the revolution.

I work on a daily basis with some extremely nasty chemicals - there's actually nowt wrong with H&S properly applied, however much Richard Littlebrain [1] tries to deride it in his Daily Blackmail column :roll:. It's implementation by people who don't understand it fully and/or are scared to death of ambulance chasing lawsuits that's the problem.

David

[1] Come the revolution, guess who I'd like to see go against the wall. First dibs on Murdoch, mind you.

 

[rosstheboss]

It's difficult to describe a company working directly for the public sector as strictly private though isn't it? I know most contractor's eyes light up when the chance to work for the council comes up... i.e. KERCHING!!!

 

[rosstheboss]

The picture above is inaccurate I'm afraid. Only one clipboard wielding health and safety monkey. Are you mad? Who is going to watch his back?

These people work in fours and WILL be the first against the wall come the revolution.

I work on a daily basis with some extremely nasty chemicals - there's actually nowt wrong with H&S properly applied, however much Richard Littlebrain tries to deride it in his Daily Blackmail column :roll:. It's implementation by people who don't understand it fully and/or are scared to death of ambulance chasing lawsuits that's the problem.

David

True, I've put myself in some silly situations in the past on site, where someone really should have said "STOP THAT!" but I was too young to truly understand the risks...

 

[cyfa2809]

I agree with the health and safety, alot of it is common sense also.


Greenstiles, why not ask them for a job an dtell them you will get it done faster cheaper better. At least if you cant actually do these things you could probably delay beng fired for ages by driving round and chatting and drinking tea haha!

 

[Neil]

It's difficult to describe a company working directly for the public sector as strictly private though isn't it?

Not really.

It was as much the example of the water company digging up the pipe, to the private contractors sorting out, um, flowers and things.

 

[greenstiles]

Well looks like this is going to take 3 days now ! I think they fixed the pipe this moring in that 'hour' of flurry.............they all disapeared at 9.00am :shock: after starting at 8.00. The hole is still open and the 2.00pm deadline for us to use the water again is almost here, so i'm guessing there will be another team to fill the hole in tomorrow !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


This is 'Seven trent water' and whatever other contractors they use.