It is cheaper in the long run to have a crew allocated to designated areas than taking each individual pot hole and assessing a labour and plant allocation based on the size / length of time etc. on daily basis.
The stop-go signalling, I'd agree the automated system would be best and frees up two men to assist with the work, but if its a 10-15 minute infill job, setting up the lights may just take longer than its worth.
Aside from this are the CoCo. correct in enforcing the H&S rules bearing in mind an accident may result in some hefty claims?
Hypothetically - If a car hit the workers and/or the truck due to improper warning signs and resulted in serious injury or death of one party, the financial consequence and uproar would be far greater. Then they'd be in the cross hairs for wasting money, not following procedures etc. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.
You see, that's the problem right there...I'd put it to you that he's employed as a 'council worker' and so should 'work' rather than sitting around waiting to work in short bursts
I would agree; but It's easy to point fingers in this instance and others, like the example Chris gave, as the council workers themselves are often in the public eye and it's a common joke about the council workers leaning on shovels for six hours of every workday. In reality, I doubt (i.e. in my experience) that the worker is pigeon holed solely as a "driver"; more than likely a plant operator. A job may need a JCB/excavator/ etc. intermittently during the day but will obviously remain on site for the full duration, inevitably this will have an operator allocated to work the machine.I wouldn't want any worker to have the authority to just hop up on any machine and declare themselves an expert, like you said it's not the 70's. Some may say the operator should get off the machine when not in use and assist the others but in reality this is not required and could be argued as counter productive; too many chiefs.
While the others may start at 9:00 a.m. the drivers/operators can have very early starts at the depots to get the machines loaded, prepared & fueled, get materials loaded and get on the road. They often have late finishes as well for example; that JCB driver complain about getting get stuck behind on the road has to trundle back to the depot, some can go at max 40 Km/H, it can take a long time after which the worker himself has to drive home. Whilst it may look like he's doing nothing all day it can be very misleading.
I'd wouldn't consider myself a defender of the PS and Council workers but I think we should aim at a level playing field; you're never going to know the full picture by just looking out the window.
