Electricians on strike at St James's Hostpital

The security staff do the resetting of alarms in any large commercial office building I have worked in. Why does it require an electrician?

As you say, fair play lads.
 
From the article...

On Sundays, a call out would trigger a minimum of eight hours pay.
In addition, they are entitled to a minimum of four hours compensatory rest in accordance with the European Working Time Directive.

Would be interesting to see the frequency of alarms needing to be reset on Sundays ;)
 
issues like this or rampant in the semi state and public service in this country....hence why our public services, electricity, transport etc cost well above the EU average.
if there were a few decent investigative journalists in this country, they could do the country some service by reporting on such issues, thus putting pressures on unions to allow modernisation, common sense work practices etc
 
Delboy said:
issues like this or rampant in the semi state and public service in this country....hence why our public services, electricity, transport etc cost well above the EU average.
if there were a few decent investigative journalists in this country, they could do the country some service by reporting on such issues, thus putting pressures on unions to allow modernisation, common sense work practices etc
Click to expand...
You don't need journalists. If you know about these 'rampant' issues, publish details here or set up your own blog with details, or submit FOI requests or PQ requests to see what's going on.

Hard to see any good reason for the dispute at St James, mind you.
 
'details' have been published here before and all that happens is that a public v private debate kicks off. waste of time.
don't need to submit FOI requests as I know plenty about the issues from my time in various jobs. And I've always had my doubts that a lot of the more experienced journalists in this country know exacty how badly run most of the govt is and the waste that goes on but have no interest in reporting on it

good article today in the Times about the Croke park agreement and how this electricians dispute is contrary to what was laid out in that. no shock there so
 
Delboy said:
'details' have been published here before and all that happens is that a public v private debate kicks off. waste of time.
don't need to submit FOI requests as I know plenty about the issues from my time in various jobs.
Click to expand...
So set up your own blog site for all these details - you control the debate, so you can make sure it's not pointless. I'd be very interested to read details of these 'rampant' abuses, as would many journalists and other commentators.
 
Delboy said:
'details' have been published here before and all that happens is that a public v private debate kicks off. waste of time.
don't need to submit FOI requests as I know plenty about the issues from my time in various jobs. And I've always had my doubts that a lot of the more experienced journalists in this country know exacty how badly run most of the govt is and the waste that goes on but have no interest in reporting on it

good article today in the Times about the Croke park agreement and how this electricians dispute is contrary to what was laid out in that. no shock there so
Click to expand...

The same Irish Times article also suggested that Dun Laoghaire Co, Council in terms of outsourcing waste collection and the HSE West in terms of non renewal of temporary contracts may also be in breach of the Croke Park agreement , no shock there so !
 
Complainer said:
So set up your own blog site for all these details - you control the debate, so you can make sure it's not pointless. I'd be very interested to read details of these 'rampant' abuses, as would many journalists and other commentators.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a super idea to me.
 
dont have the time or the savvy to run/set up a blog site. Would be happy to contribute to 1 on an occasional basis if you know of one....
 
Delboy said:
dont have the time or the savvy to run/set up a blog site. Would be happy to contribute to 1 on an occasional basis if you know of one....
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That's a bit of a cop-out. It takes about five minutes to set up a blog site on Wordpress or blogger. A cynic might think that you don't actually have details of these 'rampant' problems to put into the public domain.
 
I'm just wondering why a hospital needs even one full time electrician? I suppose I see an electrician's job as more in construction than in day-to-day operations so what does their normal day consist of if no fire alarm needs to be reset?

Do they have a back up generator that needs daily maintenance or something?
 
circle said:
I'm just wondering why a hospital needs even one full time electrician? I suppose I see an electrician's job as more in construction than in day-to-day operations so what does their normal day consist of if no fire alarm needs to be reset?

Do they have a back up generator that needs daily maintenance or something?
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Someone has to use the paddles when your heart stops.
 
Complainer said:
That's a bit of a cop-out. It takes about five minutes to set up a blog site on Wordpress or blogger. A cynic might think that you don't actually have details of these 'rampant' problems to put into the public domain.
Click to expand...

you can be a 'cynic' all you want, does'nt worry me Mr.Complainer!! Are you by any chance a public servant of some description yourself?
 
circle said:
I'm just wondering why a hospital needs even one full time electrician? I suppose I see an electrician's job as more in construction than in day-to-day operations so what does their normal day consist of if no fire alarm needs to be reset?

Do they have a back up generator that needs daily maintenance or something?
Click to expand...

Firstly there would be a whole pile of preventative maintenance tasks that would need to be carried out. Not sure if the electricians would also perform PAT testing on everything and anything that needs to be plugged in.

I'd also imagine that hospitals would have things like UPS systems and they do require reguler maintenance for things like planned battery changes etc

Lastly there would be your normal day to day repairs that you would see on any large complex, things from fuses blowing, trips switches triping to signs/lights etc need repairing. On large sites as well, there can be extensive paperwork to keep up to date (eg wiring diagrams) every time any change occurs
 
circle said:
I'm just wondering why a hospital needs even one full time electrician? ?
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I'd have thought that it makes sense for any large campus organisation (large college, hospital, airport etc) to have in-house trades staff (including electricians), given the amount of equipment, services and maintenance required.

Delboy said:
you can be a 'cynic' all you want, does'nt worry me Mr.Complainer!! Are you by any chance a public servant of some description yourself?
Click to expand...
Nice attempt at diversion - yes, indeed I am a public servant. Now back to the topic in hand - where are we going to get details of these 'rampant' abuses that you know about?
 
Mpsox said:
Firstly there would be a whole pile of preventative maintenance tasks that would need to be carried out. Not sure if the electricians would also perform PAT testing on everything and anything that needs to be plugged in.

I'd also imagine that hospitals would have things like UPS systems and they do require reguler maintenance for things like planned battery changes etc

Lastly there would be your normal day to day repairs that you would see on any large complex, things from fuses blowing, trips switches triping to signs/lights etc need repairing. On large sites as well, there can be extensive paperwork to keep up to date (eg wiring diagrams) every time any change occurs
Click to expand...

Fair enough - huge office buildings don't have them so I was genuinely wondering.
 
circle said:
Fair enough - huge office buildings don't have them so I was genuinely wondering.
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Huge office buildings usually have it outsourced to a building services provider such as Vector. I presume the main issue with hospitals is that you can't be waiting for a few hours to call an electrician and wait for him to arrive if a fuse blows in the middle of an operation
 
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