How much equipment to fill a hole.

[Suzie_q]

Beware Meldrew rant.

 

So we on the Coventry, finished the Atherstone flight and stop off at the Bradley Green Bridge facilities for water, empty rubbish and cassette.

 

Workmen are repairing the long term mornings and filling the gab between Armco and bank. All good laudable work.

 

The concrete/aggregate has been dropped next to the elsen point. There it is being loaded using a mini digger onto a tracked powered wheelbarrow. This is them driven the length of two moorings along the path to where another mini digger is used to spread it arround.

 

The second mini digger is then also used to spread a fine gravel over the top to complete the surface. This is pea gravel being delicately spread over a 8 inch wide gab with a 4 foot wide bucket.

 

Now. What ever happened to a wheelbarrow and a shovel being used for this sort of thing!!!!

In the time it was taking the guy to load the tracked barrow, drive it down the path, reverse back along the path, start up the mini digger etc, about 5 or 6 barrow loads could have been shifted.

 

Oh and while he was doing this the other three workers would sit waiting for the next load.

 

What happened to all the do'ers in this world?

 

Rant over.

[alan_fincher]

What happened to all the do'ers in this world?

 

Many of them now on here, retired, ranting and no longer "doing", possibly?

[Grace and Favour]

Beware Meldrew rant.

 

So we on the Coventry, finished the Atherstone flight and stop off at the Bradley Green Bridge facilities for water, empty rubbish and cassette.

 

Workmen are repairing the long term mornings and filling the gab between Armco and bank. All good laudable work.

 

The concrete/aggregate has been dropped next to the elsen point. There it is being loaded using a mini digger onto a tracked powered wheelbarrow. This is them driven the length of two moorings along the path to where another mini digger is used to spread it arround.

 

The second mini digger is then also used to spread a fine gravel over the top to complete the surface. This is pea gravel being delicately spread over a 8 inch wide gab with a 4 foot wide bucket.

 

Now. What ever happened to a wheelbarrow and a shovel being used for this sort of thing!!!!

In the time it was taking the guy to load the tracked barrow, drive it down the path, reverse back along the path, start up the mini digger etc, about 5 or 6 barrow loads could have been shifted.

 

Oh and while he was doing this the other three workers would sit waiting for the next load.

 

What happened to all the do'ers in this world?

 

Rant over.

There may be a section/sub-section in Human Rights Act/Guidance for the European Court of Human Rights stating that manual workers are at risk of straining muscles, and therefore all manual work requires powered mechanical assistance

[RLWP]

Oh good, another 'all modern workers are fools thread'

 

I take it you spent the rest of the day making sure they were not doing any other work than filling in this single hole? No work on other parts of the towpath? Perhaps further away?

 

Richard

[Arthur Marshall]

Ah well.. you're using contractors, you see, instead of your own staff. Everyone then has the incentive to ramp the costs up as much as possible, as well as obviously having no particular concern about doing a good job. And as it aint your staff, you don't have to pay proper wages, so the workers will like as not be on short term contracts and minimum wage, and as that isn't enough to live on, the taxpayer coughs up the rest. Once you've got the machinery, there's no extra expense in using it apart from a bit of fuel, so why not? And to use a couple of bloks with a weheelbarrow, anyway... where's the profit in that?

[BargeeSpud]

At least they're doing some chuffin' improvement/maintenance work! Result I'd have thought.

[KevMc]

And why are we writing on compooters when pen and ink was good enough in the early days of BW

[RLWP]

I'll bet you bought that ink, and didn't dig out the iron ore for the penknife to cut the quill pen - slacker!

 

Richard

[PaulG]

They don't need to use wheelbarrows any more. The workmen have already learned to walk on their hind legs...

[Suzie_q]

Oh good, another 'all modern workers are fools thread'

 

I take it you spent the rest of the day making sure they were not doing any other work than filling in this single hole? No work on other parts of the towpath? Perhaps further away?

 

Richard

What was I thinking!!!!

 

Posting a comment on here based of 10 minutes observation and in an area I have no expertise in.

 

Can't have a forum based on that!!!!

 

:-)

[RLWP]

Of course you can. Just expect to be criticised if you do

 

Richard

[Rich]

Beware Meldrew rant.

 

So we on the Coventry, finished the Atherstone flight and stop off at the Bradley Green Bridge facilities for water, empty rubbish and cassette.

 

VLS

 

Oh and while he was doing this the other three workers would sit waiting for the next load.

 

What happened to all the do'ers in this world?

 

Rant over.

 

Come on now, you knew that when you posted just what would happen.

 

If your post had supported the actions of the workers and the fact that no one was getting stressed or strained the criticisms would have still appeared but 180° further round.

 

I'm with you BTW.

[Suzie_q]

 

Come on now, you knew that when you posted just what would happen.

 

 

I'm with you BTW.

There was a smiley on my response. All taken in good humour.

[Caprifool]

You need to have a look at some Swedish road workers. Now THAT'S some serious slackers! :-D

[Kwacker]

When I was a kid, our village had an "Urb" man to look after drains, ditches etc. He could have filled that hole in ..... in about a week or so using his wheelbarrow. He never exceeded glacial pace.

His specialties were shouting at us kids, and leaning on a shovel ... aaah them were the days.

[pquinn]

When I was a kid, our village had an "Urb" man to look after drains, ditches etc. He could have filled that hole in ..... in about a week or so using his wheelbarrow. He never exceeded glacial pace.

His specialties were shouting at us kids, and leaning on a shovel ... aaah them were the days.

now if you want to see some world class shovel leaning you should come to ireland.

[steelaway]

now if you want to see some world class shovel leaning you should come to ireland.

Or Africa

 

http://youtu.be/tD5cXwpmFw4

 

Alex

[Tesla]

If your post had supported the actions of the workers and the fact that no one was getting stressed or strained the criticisms would have still appeared but 180° further round.

 

 

Worth doing a 2nd post I reckon Suzie_q?

[matty40s]

Much needed Maintenance being carried out and still moans come....

[Tesla]

Much needed Maintenance being carried out and still moans come....

But how much more maintenance could be carried out around the system if CRT had only needed to pay for say 2 workers and a wheelbarrow for this this particular piece of work?

 

Of course if CRT are paying subcontractors a fixed (and competitive) price to deliver the work then it's a different matter, assuming of course the work is done to an acceptable standard?

[Lockie Junior]

Whether CRT are using their own workforce or contractors, manual wheelbarrows often cannot be used because of site access and/or manual handling rules. Those are the words of a CRT Works Planner.

 

Regards,

Lockie.

[Suzie_q]

Whether CRT are using their own workforce or contractors, manual wheelbarrows often cannot be used because of site access and/or manual handling rules. Those are the words of a CRT Works Planner.

 

Regards,

Lockie.

 

Don't understand the access issue as they needed to make a bigger hole in the fence for the tracked wheelbarrow.

 

But I think you've answered it as per G&Fs post.

Handling rules.

 

I'm glad they are doing the work just seemed strange the way it was being done.

In my trade you don't use a dark fibre encrypted link for low level information. Just seemed an over engineered solution.

Kev

[Lockie Junior]

What I wrote was what the Works Planner said about towpath repair jobs in general.

 

However, I do agree that the kit used does seem somewhat excessive for the job in hand. I think that one man and a barrow would be an easier and cheaper solution, but CRT have to cover their arses with regards manual handling rules, etc.

 

Regards,

Lockie.

[Suzie_q]

Totally agree with you.

 

Just sad that this is the way a charity has to work.

[Lockie Junior]

Such is the way of the world. You should hear some of the old hands talking about 'the good old days', such conviction I have never heard before or since!